eagerinsight

I am trying to cycle a 10 gallon tank ASAP, because I have another tank that is cycling with 5 platies, and now a bunch of fry.

I hear a lot about this biospira, but can't find it in stores or on-line. Where can I find this stuff?

So my fishless cycling tank has ammonia levels at 4 PPM (added pure ammonia), very little nitrite and nitrate. I have API stress zyme in it. How can I speed the cycle up? the tank is at 81 degrees.

Do I just wait for Ammonia to go down and nitrate goes up? Do I keep adding ammonia in the mean time?

roxanne

i can't remember the name of the water contioner but walmart sells one with biospira in it. i didn't do fishless cycling , with frequent water changes it took me almost 8 weeks to get my 10 gal to cycle. you can however remove some rocks or decorations from your established tank and add them to the new tank and that will help getting the bacteria established needed for the cycling to complete(speed it up)also check out this site http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article14.html.



edit: just realized i mispelled conditioner..

sgould

http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...o%2Dspira&Np=1

Wal-Mart sells a product called "Cycle". It doesn't work.

roxanne

thanks sgould
glad i didn't waste my money then....and didn't get eager to purchase it either...

roxanne

just a quick reply here i checked my stock and what i added to my tank was stress zyme by api (Aval at walmart) even has an expiration date on it. don't know if it helped at all but after adding it to my tank it really seemed to start cycling quicker but it had been up and running for 5 weeks and i already had a nitrite spike the day after i added it the nitrites were coming down slightly.added it to my betta tanks too and so far so good everything staying in check . hope this helps petsmart is like 60 miles from here so i just checked walmart figured i'd give it try. didn't lose any more fishes. have you tried petsmart on line??

lilsoccakid

without biospira, i would say the 2nd fastest way would be to turn the heater on maxiumum temp for the fishless one.

chickadee

Sorry but StressZyme does not have live bacteria or Bio-spira in it. Only Bio-spira is live bacteria and must be kept refrigerated. It is the only product that produces an instant cycle that I am aware of that is available in the States at the present. There may be another but where it is available I am not sure of. Someone posted about one that she used but I do not know where she is located if in the States or out. It is used the same as Bio-spira though.

StressZyme is a compound that is supposed to relieve stress in fish not cycle the tank. The only ways to cycle the tanks are to go through the cycle process as described in the nitrogen cycle article at the beginning of the homepage: http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm (either with fish or without) or with the Bio-spira product.

Cycle and other products that say they will cycle your filter with "live bacteria" that are kept on shelves and not refrigerated contain an entirely different strain of bacteria and are not stable and are basically useless and a waste of money.

Pet store employees that try to sell such products to you with the promise of a quick cycle are only interested in making a sale and do not care if your tank cycles or not. Do not trust what they tell you.

It is true that the use of gravel or a piece of filter media or an old filter pad from a cycled tank will help to cycle a new filter very quickly in about a week to ten days. Even transferring a large piece of decoration from the cycled tank for a couple of weeks will help. Anything that the bacteria has grown on will help to speed up the process but not be an instant cycle.

Rose

roxanne

api stress zyme says it has dual action live bacteria and speeds the developement of the bio- filter.. like i said i dunno if it helped seeing as i added it late in the process but have had no problems with the betta tanks staying in check course bettas are clean fish anyway. i still think i'd add gravel or a decoration from the old tank