lilsoccakid

this product claims to have the benficial bacteria to help cycle a tank.has anyone used this? does this actully help? thanks for your help!

here it is:

http://www.petsmart.com/global/produ...=1183571530695

atmmachine816

I used it when I first started my tank and that's before I knew what cycling was, a guy at my lfs told me to use it and I never went through any algae blooms or lost many fish so my conclusion is yes it works. Another good product that is a bit more popular is http://www.drsfostersmith.com/Produc...&N=2004+112990 More people tend to use this one but I think both work fine or you don't have to use them at all.

sgould

Reviews on Cycle are very mixed, to say the least. Some swear by it, while others have concluded that it not only did not help their tank cycle, but actually made things worse.

lilsoccakid

i cant stand waiting anymore, so im probably going to give this product a try and hope for the best!

lilsoccakid

im going out of state for 4 days, and was wondering if i just fed the tank with some ammonia and adding this would be ok before i leave

Gunnie

There are mixed reviews on Cycle. My experience was that it did absolutely nothing for my tank. The link that ATM provided is the only true product that is basically an instant cycle. Some folks experience a short period of ammonia and nitrite spikes when using bio spira, but my experience with it was instant all 3 times.

Xenomorph

After my experience with these "biostarters" (wasted $30) and losing over $60 in fish (who sufferred lingering deaths) I'm NEVER going to take a short cut again... I sugest just having patience and knowing that you're doing the right ting by your future pets.

Trpimp147

fish, fish food, and not worrying about it worked great for me.

lilsoccakid

i just got back and tested the water, and after 4 days with it in the tank there is still no signs of nitrites and nitrates, im going to go to my local petsmart and ask for some of there gravel from a tank that is established

Xenomorph

That might work... but mate, pleeeeeeeeease read the articles on tank cycling - even google the term, you'll find that it can take as long as 4-6 even 8 weeks to cycle a tank! I know it's hard, but I've been there and believe me - you're fish will thankyou for your patience!

choochiegirl

Cycle did absolutely nothing for me except lighten my wallet.

Jim

OMG... this is SO true... take it from me, I made every cycling mistake you could... impatience being at the top of the list. But after I found this website, did a lot of reading, figured out what I was doing wrong, and gave my tank a few more weeks, it turned out amazing. My water is crystal clear, my fish are happy, and my plants are thriving. All in all it took around 2 months to really cycle properly. It seemed like forever, but it was definitly worth the wait.

Luniyn

The short answer is no, it doesn't work.

The long and drawn out answer that doesn't need to be read if you don't want to is that not only does it not work, but it can actually cause problems in your tank if you use it repeatedly (NOTE: this is not only about that product you listed, but also pertains to most other products like this except for Bio-Spira (more about that product in a second)). Basically it is supposed to add the good bacteria to your tank and give you a leg up on getting them eating the ammonia in the tank. This is to help push the cycle along faster and get you done quicker. What actually happens is that you've just introduced the wrong bacteria into your tank. The bacteria that is used in these products have a long shelf life (anywhere from 6 months to at least 4 years as mentioned on some products) and that's great if they were able to live and reproduce in our tanks. The problem is that they can't and although they may actually eat a bit of the ammonia in your tank while they are alive, they will eventually die off leaving your tank right back where it started. The correct form of good bacteria can only live and reproduce in our tanks and if they go without ammonia for as little a time as 24 hours, they will start to die off. This obviously doesn't work for the companies that sell these bottles on store shelves, so they went out and looked for strains of bacteria that would live longer. They found them, but as mentioned they don't take to living in our tanks. Especially since they will be replaced by the real bacteria at some point. But this leads to the possible problems that you might see with regular use of these products. As I said, these bacteria they are using will eat some of the ammonia and live for a short while in our tanks. During that time, if you have a tank with just enough bio-media for the normal tank load, this bacteria will colonize that media and use up all the available space. So the actual good bacteria now doesn't have any place to take hold and grow. Also even if it did have a spot, it might not get enough ammonia to eat so it dies off quickly. Then once the wrong bacteria starts to die off, you all of a sudden notice the ammonia levels start to go up again. So what do you do? You add more of this product at which point they colonize the available space and again don't leave enough room or food for the real stuff to live. So you are forever going through this endless cycle until you stop using the product or until you slow down the use of it enough for the real, good bacteria to start growing and taking hold. At that point it will eventually take up all the available space and just kick anything you add to the curb to die off and be removed though your water changes. So if anything, it actually made it take longer to cycle your tank in some cases, or if anything, made it so you went though small mini-cycles over and over. There are some people that say they have used it and it's worked well for them, but if you ask them how long it took to cycle their tank they say 3-4 weeks. Well without doing anything but adding ammonia to the tank, it can take 3-4 weeks to cycle the tank... i.e. it seems to have taken just as long with or without using it. Now as mentioned there is one known good additive that will help you get the cycle done in some cases overnight and that is Bio-Spira. Now this does work and has been shown time and time again that it can finish cycling the tank very quickly, however, it comes with a few down sides. First off, Bio-Spira uses the correct form of good bacteria, and as such as you will remember, it can only live without food for 24 hours. So how do they get it to you if it's being sold to a store first? Well the answer is they have to keep it refrigerated. While the bacteria is refrigerated it goes dormant and can stay alive for quite some time, so this seems to be the answer right? Well what happens if it is left out of the refrigerator for a little while and then put back in. Well the chances are if that happens, that the batch is no longer good (or at least not as many are alive as they are just sleeping, not reproducing while being refrigerated). So if you buy it at the local pet store, if they mishandled it at all, you will have just wasted your money. Also this stuff isn't cheap. So even if you buy it from a reputable internet based company and it is alive, they still have to overnight it to you so it gets to you before going bad (which is even more expensive). So in the end, going this route, though nice if you have the option, isn't practical for everyone. Your best bet is just patience during the fishless cycle. It really is for the best, and quicker then cycling with fish in the tank. You have to do so many water changes when cycling with fish that you actually slow down the cycle because you are limiting the amount of food in the tank (ammonia and nitrite). In a fishless cycle you don't care how much there is in the tank so it can eat to it's hearts content. Also another bonus of cycling without fish is that once you are done, you will have such a large colony of good bacteria in the tank that you can pretty much stock your tank fully as the fish won't put out as much ammonia as you were adding during the fishless cycle.

Now I'm not a scientist, and I haven't done extensive testing to back up this ramble. However, from reading a lot on the internet, and from speaking with users from various forums, I have yet to have anyone say that by using any product (other then Bio-Spira) has it taken them any shorter of a time to cycle their tank then it takes without using the additional product. Also if you want to read the somewhat technical reports given by a Marineland tech (makers of Bio-Spira.. I know.. what are they going to say... that their own product doesn't work? :), read some of these articles here (there are 4 links on that page under Magazine Articles). These are by far the most interesting to be read on the internet and are backed up by scientific testing.

sirdarksol

Awesome post, Luniyn. Thanks for the info. That explains the results of using a similar product on one of my tanks.

This gives me an idea. Bacteria can usually survive being frozen. Frozen loaded bio-media as an quick start for tanks. I'm thinking for that time you go on vacation and the power dies for a whole week, killing off all of your bacteria colonies, or your kid thinks she's helping by giving all of the little fishies their medicine.

lilsoccakid

im going to try to get some gravel from the fish store, and then just be patient if that doesnt work, ive decided i should just do wat will be best for my future fish

sirdarksol

That's often the best. From now on, if I've got to start a tank without any sharable bio-media (can't think of why that would be, but it could happen), I plan on using the ammonia method.

lilsoccakid

im using the ammonia method, which is easy but its been 2 weeks and no nitrite or nitrate readings yet

Xenomorph

Just keep swimming... just keep swimming...