ladylouroll

ok i am fishless cycling my 7g tank. i put the water in and added the gravel the water went quite clowdy even though i did wash the gravel through first (is this ok? it has settled over night). the filter/pump and heater are all on its 26c in there at present ive added cycle which i was advised to use when fishless cycling by my LFS. (are there any better things to use?) i was told to put a tiny bit of flaked food in too. am i doing anything wrong? any help please? i have not fishless cycled before!

Shawnie

cycle is not a self sustaining bacteria...it will have to be used for the life of the tank...at this point, I would stop using cycle, and I would either put in a pinch of fish food a day (every day) and sit and wait or add a very small piece of raw shrimp and leave it be....

Lucy

Unfortunatly cycle contains the wrong kind of bacteria. It's not self sustaining and dies off quickly.
It will use up the ammonia the beneficial bacteria needs to develop.

My suggestion would be stop using cycle but continue to add a bit of flake food (or a piece of raw shrimp or pure ammonia). That will break down into ammonia and the bacteria will develop naturally.

Good luck and congrats on the fish less cycle.

Shawnie!

Shawnie

ladylouroll

ok is there anything else i could use instead of raw shrimp? anyother type of fish or anything? where would i get pure ammonia from my lfs does not stock it!

agabr123

if you use pure ammonia, make sure that it's just ammonia and water, meaning no surfactants. if you shake it and it fizzes or bubbles then you dont want it, no bubbles and you should be okay, but you can post the ingredients here and we can let you know if it's safe to use oh, also you'll want to only add about 2-4ppm, which may involve adding a couple drops, waiting half an hour and testing the water (and hoping it's at 2-4), adding a few more drops, testing again, etc.

i'd check around at your local hardware stores, in the U.S. members have found it at Ace Hardware, but i'm not sure if you have that over in the UK.

Lucy

You can try walmart, a grocery store or a hardware store. Make sure it doesn't have additives and doesn't foam when you shake it.
Or You can continue with the fish food instead.
Someone (wish I could remember who) suggested going to the grocery store and ask the butcher for a scrap peice of fish when they're trimming it.

ladylouroll

we dont have walmart over here only asda which is a branch of walmart but they dont sell fish things. grocery stores dont sell them either. where would it be in a hardware store? i have tins of tuna would a bit of that be any good?

Shawnie

no it has to be raw fresh food not preservatives or canned or freeze dried etc

Lucy

Look in the cleaning supplies department, not in the fish department.

ladylouroll

o ok. i shall have a look in asda then thanks