Stability???

[greenpr]

As far as I can tell from threads, Omega and Jiddlefish, you are friends. So you could take some filter media and substrate from Omega's cycled tank and put it in the new tank.

I did this on a new tank and it avoided cycling totally as the colony was already established. Ammonia never got close to 1ppm

 

[Omega]

As far as I can tell from threads, Omega and Jiddlefish, you are friends. So you could take some filter media and substrate from Omega's cycled tank and put it in the new tank.

I did this on a new tank and it avoided cycling totally as the colony was already established. Ammonia never got close to 1ppm

I only have SW unfortunately. We found out today their neighbor has three FW tanks with filters he never cleans, so that should be great. I'm going over there tonight to help.

 

[Chrisinator]

I like TetraMin. You can drop in some food in the tank and BAM! You be cyclin'!

 

[greenpr]

I only have SW unfortunately. We found out today their neighbor has three FW tanks with filters he never cleans, so that should be great. I'm going over there tonight to help.

Sounds perfect

 

[GoldLenny]

I like TetraMin. You can drop in some food in the tank and BAM! You be cyclin'!

There are MANY ways to fishless cycle a tank... even peeing in the tank will work... BUT to make a tank instantly cycled, using a product like Dr. Tim's One And Only is the way to go so you can add the One And Only, test it with the ammonia sample and if the ammonia cycled all the way, as it should, then you can add ALL of your fish and know the tank is fully cycled.

Fishless cycling methods, while the preferred method for folks that don't want to put out the added expense of Dr. Tim's One And Only, usually takes 2-8 weeks where with Dr. Tim's it's instantly cycled.

NONE of the other bacteria in the bottle products work like this... except for maybe Tetra's RightStart (since it is supposed to be the old Bio-Spira product under Tetra's new name). From what I understand, Tetra still sells it under Bio-Spira for SW use. I don't know why they changed the name for just FW use.

I think newbies should do a fishless cycle so they take that time to learn how the nitrogen cycle works, they have time to work on their stocking of their new tank, take one or two of the free online tutorials on my "A to Z of Fish Keeping" blog, etc.. I also have a TOP TEN LIST of reasons for Fishless Cycling on my blog... with some funny reasons thrown in. http://goldlenny.blogspot.com/2010/05/top-ten-list-fishless-cycling.html

 

[GoldLenny]

I've bought bags of rock that already include live bacteria and put fish in the same day.....Oh I know that is going to get a reaction!!! DOUGHT!

PS everyone made it!

That's fine as long as the gravel or filter media comes from a healthy tank. It's best, even if gravel, to put it in your own filter system reservoir to get the N-bacteria spreading to your own new filter media since that's the main part of a tank that cycles the ammonia. If you have a UGF, then using the gravel in with your own gravel is the right way to go.

 

[GoldLenny]

All this controversy over bottled bacterial products (except Bio-Spira) is making me want to do an experiment. I could have two buckets with the same filter and bio-media, the same amount of ammonia added, but one with Stability and one without, and see what happens.

Start a new thread and post your test results every day to let us know.

 

[jpappy789]

There are MANY ways to fishless cycle a tank... even peeing in the tank will work... BUT to make a tank instantly cycled, using a product like Dr. Tim's One And Only is the way to go so you can add the One And Only, test it with the ammonia sample and if the ammonia cycled all the way, as it should, then you can add ALL of your fish and know the tank is fully cycled.

Or you could go with already established media as the OP is going to do...usually cheaper that way

 

[J double R]

I like to use two things to cycle my tanks: Ammonia, and Patience.

Guess the latter is in short supply these days.

 

[OldMan47]

Any product that claims magical properties is subject to the same skepticism as any magic product. If the claims are simply made that a product is better than any others available, it is a bald faced lie. If it makes claims that seem reasonable, it is probably not true but at least they give you enough information to refute the claims. Those claims need to be explored by people knowledgeable in the process, whatever it is, that they claim to short circuit. The final condition is that enjoyed by people like Biospira before they went out of production. The reality was that their product actually worked. In our modern tanks we need to remember that although Biospira worked a few years ago, there is no comparable product available today so the claims are all false. That means that anything you add to "accelerate" your cycle are nothing more than snake oil.
BS is still BS.