thanson

I have been working on a fishless cycle for 32 days and had the reading going the right direction. I got impatient and decided I would get some Tetra Safe Start however I went to Petco and they did not have the Safe Start but did have Nutrafin Cycle. I followed the instructions for a new tank and after 3 days I now have readings of 0 for ammonia, Nitrites, and Nitrates. The shrimp are still in the tank decomposing as far as I can tell.

So the question is did I kill all the bacteria I was trying to start and what do I need to do from here?

Thanks for your help as I am ignorant in these matters.

Tim

zowie717

the best thing to do so you dont have to go through all the trouble, is what i did on my 4th tank. set it up and tank an "existing filter" from an cycled tank and put in behind the new filter and add a small amount of gravel frmo a cycled tank and then add some safe start on day 1. i had readings after 2 days. i didnt use the safe start after the first day and you are suppose to keep the lights off also for that time.

i dont know if you killed the baterica but sounds like you did. i am not familar with that product. but everthing works differently. I just know what worked for me. and even after i did 3 substrate changes all i did was above and i have had no problems.

aquarist48

Good morning. Cycle doesn't contain the right kind of bacteria needed to sustain your tank. It dies quickly and uses the ammonia that the beneficial bacteria needs to develop.
You'll have to add it for the life of your tank.

I would like to suggest that you stop using Cycle and as soon as you have an ammonia reading, begin daily water changes of 30 to 50% to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down until the tank is cycled. (0 ammonia, 0 nitrite with some 5-10 nitrate)

Best of luck!

Shawnie

if you are cycling fishless with just your shrimp, just stop using cycle but yes, you will need to start over.....no water changes as aquarist said because I think he read it as you have fish in the tank...

aquarist48

Oops...I stand corrected. Shawnie is right...for some reason I was thinking you had already added fish. More coffee!

thanson

What a waste of $25.

At least no fish were sacrificed

aquarist48

Hello Thanson. Don't feel too badly. Many of us have made the same mistakes.

Shawnie

isnt that the truth!!!!! I was 4 weeks into my cycle when I added it a few years ago...poof had to start it all over

patience is the biggest thing in this hobby I tell ya!

jdhef

There is always a chance that you didn't set your cycle back too far. Since you have that shrimp decomposing in your tank, it is probably giving off a pretty good amount of ammonia. While the bacteria that was beginning to develope, will have to compete with the bacteria in the cycle (until it dies) you may have been producing enough ammonia that you didn't totally starve off the good bacteria. Only time will tell, but good luck!

thanson

Well stopped adding the Nutrifin Cycle and the next day I had Ammonia and nitrite readings and no Nitrates. Then the day after had 0 across the board again.

Thought I would add some ammonia to jump things along a bit however the only Ammonia I can find has surfactants which is bad, correct?

So where do I find the right stuff? What do surfactants do?

Thanks.

Lucy

Here's the definition of surfactants

I was able to find mine at a local grocery store. Some members have gotten theirs at Ace Hardware.

kimb

I found mine at Walmart The brand is "Goldex".