FishProfiles.com Message Forums

So I can use ammonia instead of fish just like a fishless cycle?

I would say that Cycle (NIC) does more to lower the ammonia and nitrite spikes that you would encounter than it does to reduce the overall amount of time it takes to cycle your tank.

This is why its good to use on a regular basis (keeps your biofilter biased toward the right kind of bacteria) and why its great to use when your biofilter is otherwise stressed (temp. extremes, recently discovered rotting fish carcasses, etc)

The other great thing with Cycle (NIC) is that it lets you start with a fully stocked tank if you want...it still takes a week or so to become fully cycled, but you have your completed setup in weeks compared to months, ususally with no losses.

Ack, I guess its still worth a shot.......

Sly -

I believe BioSpira is only good for three months and the supply of BioSpira stopped over three months ago. I was informed that anyone who had BioSpira still on the shelf was selling a useless product. Now, I don't know if that is completely true, but that's the answer I've gotten from a couple LFS's. Last I heard, tentative date for a new supply is sometime this fall.

I do have to agree with others... BioSpira IS liquid gold. Love the stuff, and would definitely use it again. I've cycled one tank on BioSpira (can we say insta-cycle?) and one tank on a normal cycle (three weeks). NIC doesn't work nearly as well (sister's tank was cycled with NIC and still took as long as a normal cycle...) in my experience.

Also noting that the only time a fish died during a cycle was with NIC. I'm not saying that NIC was the culprit, but if a bunch of female bettas survived a clean cycle, why did a danio die in my sister's tank? *shrugs*

NIC does help. It prevented a nasty minicycle when I dosed antibiotics in my tank. ...But if I'm betting my fish's lives on it... I'd go with BioSpira.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

Yay!!

A store in Maine has some pouches of freshwater Bio-Spira! I've emailed about 14 LFS and they're the only one that has it!

Now my cycle will be so much faster.

My experience with BioSpira was nothing but wonderful! It is like liquid gold as far as I am concerned. Doing something in a matter of 2 minutes that generally takes a couple of months... AWESOME! I give it My angelfish and I LOVED it! I am praying it is available again sometime soon. I knew I should have stocked up on it when I had to drive 3 hours from home just to get it the first time. LOL!

Thanks sly!

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

Add ammonia to the tank initially to obtain a reading on your ammonia kit of ~5 ppm. Record the amount of ammonia that this took, then add that amount daily until the nitrite spikes. Once the nitrite is visible, cut back the daily dose of ammonia to the original volume.


Hey Kate, check this guide:

http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycling.html

and an updated version of it:
http://www.tomgriffin.com/aquamag/cycle2.html

How much ammonia per every 5 gallons? And how long do i wait before adding the fish?

I'll do graffiti,
If you sing to me in French.

I'd use the dechlorinator before adding any NIC. The bacteria probably can't survive the chlorine. And of course, add the NIC after adding the ammonia. Without the ammonia in the tank, the bacteria won't have anything to feed on, so they'll die. As long as you have a source of ammonia, you'll have bacteria.

Perfect.

Its says "Pure Ammonia" and has the ingredients of "soft water and ammonium hydoxide".



[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-04 20:23][/span]

Sly - just make sure the ammonia is clear and non-detergent. When you shake the bottle it should not suds up. On the label it should not list surfactants or colorant. Personally, I use the Harris Tetter storebrand " clear ammonia".

Question: I got a bottle of NIC. Do I use a declorinator become I put in the NIC?

I have Aqua-Plus which removes Chlorine and Chooramine.

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-04 17:48][/span]

Thats what I am going to do...

Anyone with experiences with this live bacteria product? I've called around 6 LPS/LFS and none of them have them in stock but each one has said they're recieved a lot of calls asking for it.

http://www.marineland.com/products/mllabs/ML_biospira.asp

I'm pretty sure that's exactly what a fishless cycle is. The bacteria products are really only necessary for the impatient(most of the fish keeping world).

I know all these products work great but would i be ok
going with just ammonia and checking ammonia and nitrite levels during the cycling process?

NIC is widely available, at least in the US.
And I personally think it works great.
I made my brother use it when he set up his tanks. And it had to be the NIC that helped mosts of his fish survive.
He added 8 Danios and a Betta in one 10 gallon tank, within 2 weeks of initial setup. He only lost one Danio.
And in the other 10 gallon tank, he added 4 Danios, 6 Cories, and a Clown Pleco. All of those were added within a week of setup. He lost one Cory and a Danio. But the Danio doesn't really count, cause part of it's face was bit off.
If he wouldn't have used NIC, most if not all of his fish would probably be dead.

[span class="edited"][Edited by T/A 2004-07-02 22:17][/span]

booo patience....hooray for accelerated cycling products! ]

[span class="edited"][Edited by sly 2004-07-02 18:54][/span]