capekate

I have been reading so many posts on folks who cycle their tanks with fish. The constant water changes.. testing water perimeters and worry over the health of your fish in the uncycled tank is so unnecessary.
I just want to stress an issue with newbee's and those just starting out with a new tank. If you can only resist the temptation to add fish to your tank right away you can save yourself so much work in the end.
With a tank that has no fish in it, your cycle will run much easier on you. First off, you do not have to do the constant water changes. Just fill up your tank, start to feed your cycle with either fish food or raw piece of fish or shrimp and let nature do its work. After about a week, you can start to test your water, and the only test you really need to do at this point is check for ammonia readings. Once you see your ammonia readings start to spike.. you can start to test for nitrITes. After this is the NitrAte test.
I have simplified the process above.. but the point Im trying to make, is why make so much work for yourselves? Not to mention the stress you put on the fish you introduce into an uncycled tank?
I have cycled my tanks with both fish and w/o fish. So I know from my own experience what the difference was and what effects it had on my tanks and fish. Im glad that I only cycled one of my 29g gal tanks w/ fish. My 55g tank was cycled with a piece of raw fish.. all I had to do was take periodic readings and let nature do the rest. What a breeze that was, I cannot imagine having to do daily water changes on a 55g tank. My 55 cycled in less than 20 days. My 29g tank that I cycled with fish took almost two months to complete!
What is the easier method?
I just wanted to mention this, as I see a lot of posts on the problems of cycling with fish and wanted to remind folks here or those that come on board for the first time, that there is a much easier way to do this and I really feel bad for the folks that are struggling with their cycle process when they have to deal with the health of their fish.
~ kate

Halibut

Problem is thier are so many products out thier that claim to cycle the tank for you so that you dont have to wait. I think a lot of us newbs(atleast I did) get caught up in this and the impatient gene takes over. The only chem I can say had a positive effect on my 55 is the biospira and even with that I'm still fighting nitrite(around 2) even after 9 days and 1 water change on day 8. Teusday will be day21 and we'll do the regularly scheduled water change but your correct its alot more to do it this way. That being said I did try seachem stablilty first which may have inhibited the biospira but not sure. If I had it to do over again I'd probably go fishless or try the biospira with a piece of halibut.

HatchetHaven

Lucy

Thanks for posting this, kate.
Part the of blame rests on the shoulders of tank kit manufacturers and sales people.
If you read the instructions....like on the 5g hex, all it says is to run the filter for 24hrs.
It would be great if people found forums like this prior to buying fish. Unfortunately, it's after they've bought their fish that most people search for help.

Shawnie

This deffinately needs to be stickied!! I asked this question myself to the forum a few weeks ago...wondering why people would cycle with fish when they knew about the cycle process...its not right for those that know about it and still do it with fish...IMO..

I was one of the uneducated people who never knew what a cycle was and id already had my fish..poor creatures!! sticky this!! thanks kate!

sirdarksol

I have noticed a similar surge. Unfortunately, it seems that the majority of these posts are people who have joined after having set their tank up. I agree with Lucy. It would be really nice if the people who should know better (fish stores and the like) would give better instructions.
Still, it's good to periodically remind people of this. When I started, there were a lot of people pushing fishless cycling. That's not happening as much. I wonder if we're just taking it for granted and that there are lurkers who may benefit from frequently mentioning it.

luna

I joined after I'd bought some equipment (hence my owning a Hex5 instead of a rectangular tank), but before I'd put my tank together and started cycling...and I know I read about fishless cycling, and was asked by at least a few people how I was going to cycle my tank. Not everyone researches new pet endeavors first, though...and not everyone has the patience to read all of the suggested articles before asking questions that are answered BY those articles.

The more reminders you can put up about cycling fishless, the better. I know, if I hadn't HAD to save my little fishie-girl from the evil LFS Cup of Death, I would have continued to cycle fishless...but I went into it knowing that I had to be careful and vigilant, and had a whole board full of people answering every little question I had.

I suppose my best suggestion for the "they've come here after adding fish to an uncycled tank" problem (which is entirely the fault of the fish/pet stores and their bad information) is to make sure you explain firmly but not harshly that they've started off on the wrong foot, explain why, and then detail all of their options for how to get their tank and fish through a cycle.

Usually, this seems to involve returning a bunch of fish that shouldn't have been sold for living together and/or returning a bunch of fish that would severely overload the tank. Stupid, greedy fish/pet stores.

Shawnie

I agree about LFS so not giving correct helpful educated information...I went in and bought a totally new 75 gallon set up...everything was new ..even the rocks...NO ONE in that store ever mentioned cycleing, amonia, etc...im very thankful for this site I cant say it enough!!

COBettaCouple

Yea, fishless cycling is so much less work and you end up with healthier fish.

Halibut

I have in fact overheard petsmart people actually say to customers "you need to run the new aquraium for a day or two before adding fish to make sure everything is in working order"

Shawnie

LOL a day or two wont cycle a new tank on its own...

capekate

Hi all,
just reading responses to the thread and thank you so much for the input. I want to add that this is not a blame game. Its just a fact of unknowingly adding fish to a tank before it is cycled and that its so much easier to do without fish. I sure do understand the misleading information that a LFS can give out, Ive been there myself. I totally understand that when a lot of folks first get into fish keeping rely on what the LFS tells them as gospel, we would expect that they would know what they are talking about. How soon we learn this is not always the case.
This thread is just a reminder.. is all, that there is an easier way to cycle your tank. Thank goodness for the folks here that are willing to take the time to help others with their cycle questions, as they have helped me when I first came on board.

AggieYen

Hey Kate, I have a question I'm going to be cycling my tank fishless soon, and with the raw piece of fish... how much does it stink as it decomps? I'm planning on putting the tank in my bedroom, and would rather much not have to sleep with fishy smells in the room. Will it stink up the room? And how hard is it to clean the fish bits out of tank when it's cycled?

capekate

Hi AggieYen
I used a small piece that measured about an 1.5 inch square in my 55g tank. You would need a smaller size for your 10g tank. You can also use a raw shrimp. Surprisingly it didnt stink up my tank water. Since I didnt have to do any water changes, I really did not disturb the raw fish that was laying at the bottom of the tank. It just sat there and got moldy and when I finally took it out, I used the net and very carefully and slowly removed it from the tank. The piece of fish I used still had skin on it and that helped. A raw shrimp that is still in its shell would be easier to take out when you are ready and can work just as well as the raw piece of fish. Good luck with your cycle... btw you can use some of your filter media from another tank to help speed up the process as well as using the raw fish.

COBettaCouple

I did find that when I cycled this way, I could smell the ammonia and nitrites as they built.. but not that far from the tank.

Aeration and turning the heater to maximum helped a little with the fishless cycling too.