hi again, since i have no money left after buying my new tank, no money for test kit yet or fish food to start a fishless cycle. Would i be able to use some coldwater fish pellets i have to start the cycle, or is it pointless with no testing kit? If i can use the pellets how should i go about it should i remove from tank after so long? Any info appreciated. Should i crush the pellets or what if useable?
new tank cycle info.?
- Thread starter jasuk
- Start date
I'm not very good with the whole fishless cycling thing but I can't imagine that it would hurt to throw in a few pellets. They will start things going at least, and worse case you could have done things quicker if you had the kits, so I say go for it. Does the sticky about cycling say anything about how often you need to test during a fishless cycle? I know there is something beneficial about keeping the ammonia at certain levels 
I started out fishless cycling with ammonia - but after reading some stories about people ending up with "pure" ammonia that wasnt actually pure - and had surfactants in it i got paranoid and cleaned everything out and just used fish food. In fact i dumped some big goldfish pellets in to be able to see them rot in order to add more when needed and also not to have a ton of flakes fall in between the gravel.
It worked great - the tank cycled fine. (i have to say though it took a while - dont know if it had to do with the food ... and usually the ammonia was about 2-3 ppm from the rotting food).
The only sideffect was a little planaria "outbreak" once the cycle was done - but that disappeared within 2 weeks with gravel vacs and water changes.
I assume when you do food-fishless you might not be able to add as many fish at once - but if thats not a problem i think you can do it. Once the tank is cycled just add fish slowly at first - just a few at a time.
It worked great - the tank cycled fine. (i have to say though it took a while - dont know if it had to do with the food ... and usually the ammonia was about 2-3 ppm from the rotting food).
The only sideffect was a little planaria "outbreak" once the cycle was done - but that disappeared within 2 weeks with gravel vacs and water changes.
I assume when you do food-fishless you might not be able to add as many fish at once - but if thats not a problem i think you can do it. Once the tank is cycled just add fish slowly at first - just a few at a time.