Joe_D

I've been meaning to introduce myself for a couple of days, but you know how it is.

I found this site a couple of weeks ago and have been reading as much as possible, very helpful. I am just getting started again after taking about 15 years off. Boy have things changed! Back in the day aquarium salt was a must, we rarely if ever tested the water and the only time you did water changes is when you needed to vacuum the bottom due to a build up of waste. It's amazing the fish survived, but they did.

I got a 20 gal. starter kit for Christmas, since most of my equipment in the basement was beyond repair and my old tanks have been used for snakes and other assorted reptiles and guinea pigs etc., etc.

I tried starting my tank with a fishless cycle, after rinsing everthing multiple times and setting it up and filling the tank with treated water, I started "feeding the tank" with fish food, then I read that this is not the best way due to a build up of phosphates. So my wife found some shrimp in the freezer and at the end of the second day we put that in and stopped using fish food. Over the next two days the water got cloudier and cloudier and really started to smell. On the fifth day it smelled so bad I couldn't stand it any more, so I removed the shrimp and did a 25% water change. I tested the tank and it was 0 for ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. I went to my LFS and told one of the guys what I was doing, he kind of chuckled walked over to a tank and netted 4 zebra danio and said "now do it the right way".

Of course this is how I used to do it years ago, so I took the fish home and after letting the water temp adjust and putting a little of my water in the bag a couple of time, I netted the fish and put them in the tank.

Today is now day 8, the fish look great, the tank is clear again and I just tested the water and my ammonia is now approx. .5, nitrites 0 and nitrates 0.

Should I do a water 20% - 25% water change now?

Wow, this is really long winded for me.

Thanks -- Joe

Cody

cycling is one of the biggest pains of getting started..now i feed my tanks to cycle and it works for me i dont know what you mean when you said you read about the the build of phosphates. but some poeple do use fish to cycle and zebra dainos are proubably the best fish to use to do that with. you tank is starting to cycle and you ammonia will climb then lower and your nitrites will do the same than you nitrates will go up and then water change and FISH TIMEEE. do you have any ? or are you just introducing yourself

anyways Welcome to fishlore. the most friendly forum on earth

Joe_D

I think it was on here that I read fish food contains a lot of phosphates and can create an algea bloom. I don't have any other fish yet and I'm hoping I have the patience to wait for the tank to cycle before getting more fish.

susitna-flower

Welcome to Fishlore, Joe_D.

You did read that the fish food way of fishless cycle tends to cause a phospate build up. I have never used shrimp, or raw fish to cycle, but have heard it is fine, just as using 100% ammonia is ok. Just for my curiosity, did you have your filter running when the tank was smelling? My impression is that if the tank is running, with air, heat, and filtration, it shouldn't have smelled bad....Just wondering.

When I cycle, if I have fish in the tank, ANY time ammonia or nitrites are over 0 I do a 25-50% water change every day. It is a bother, and does slow the cycle down, but the only way around this is to do the fishless cycle. The ammonia will cause extreme stress, and if you don't do the water changes it will burn the fishes gills, they will be red, and start gasping....all signs of stress.

Well, do you have an idea of what you want to stock your tank with after the cycle? Good luck with this.

Dino

Pleasure to meet you!!

capekate

HI Joe D
and welcome to fishlore. Lucky you that you found this site before you started your tank. It is chock full of great information.
I cycled my tank both with fish and fishless. When I used a very tiny piece of fish from my refrigerator to help with the cycle, my tank never smelled. I am as curious as susitina flower is about whether you used the filter at the same time. Im sure you probably did... but if you didnt, that could be the reason for the smell in the tank, OR you used an awful big piece of shrimp??
IMO if you are using fish to cycle your tank, and you are showing any ammonia levels when you test the water, I would do water changes regularly because you fish will be affected by that ammonia level.
good luck with your tank and I wish you the best!

~ kate

Joe_D

Yes, i did have the filter, heater and air pump running from the first day. And trust me when I say it smelled, it really smelled and it got very cloudy. I was suprised also, with the charcoal in the filter bag I didn't think odor would be a problem.

I am just now starting to research what fish to put in the tank, I didn't want to do it too soon because I was afraid I wouldn't be able to wait.

As expected MTS is setting in fast, our LFS had a tank of pea puffers and my wife immediately fell in love, we never saw them before. After a little research, it looks like they do best in thier own tank.

COBettaCouple

Welcome to FishLore.

sgould

Welcome!

Drea

Welcome to our groovy group of fish fanatics

Gozer_1

Welcome Welcome Welcome

I agree, if you have fish then you should do water changes. As Susitna said, it'll slow your cycle a little but it'll make things much more comfortable for the fish. I too have done fish and fishless. I use old fitler media, mature water, and a little food if needed to kick start a cycle, but I have the luxury of existing tanks one of which is 150 gallons of mature water that can always use a water change. (good ol MTS to the rescue) If you use enough mature water and old media you'll have a very short easy cycle if any at all.

Anyway, I'm trying to ramble again so I'll stop there lol. Good luck.

Joe_D

Thanks for the greeting everyone!

I did the water change yesterday and will test my water again tomorrow, if the ammonia is high again I will do another 25%.

By the way, when I started using the piece of shrimp to cycle the tank, it was about an 1-1/2" long. Maybe it was too big?

Things seem to be going well with the zebra danios.

Skyline

Welcome to the site Joe, what I did to cycle my tank was to buy Cycle(contains all of the good bacteria already), it worked wonders and I could add fish immediately as my ammonia was very low and my water was doing grreat.

Remember to introduce fish slowly to your tank so as not to overload the biological filter to early.

Other than that good luck and if you ever get an algae bloom DON'T use algae medicine to cure it as many fish or invertebrates are very fragile and will most likely die due to the medicine. If you do want to use medicine though be verry careful because the wrong dosage could kill your fish. I had an incident were my goldfish tank was wiped out completely. Poor fish...

Anyway have fun at the forum and good luck with your fish.

COBettaCouple

I advice against Cycle. It contains bacteria, but the wrong kind. We used it when we started for a couple months until we read about it creating mini cycles here on the tank and the test results that we had to that point confirmed it.

GKat250000

COBetta, what do you think about BioSpira? (Instead of Cycle)

COBettaCouple

BioSpira is the only product that I'd trust to speed up the cycle. Just check expiration dates if you find a local store selling it.

≈ D ≈

Welcome to FishLore Joe Nice to have you back in the hobby also

Butterfly

Welcome to FishLore!
Yep the Tank will stink if you use shrimp to cycle(after all its rotting). If you cycle fishless you can let the ammonia and Nitrites get as high as you want and the beneficial bacteria will build faster and so it cycles faster.
When you cycle with fish you have to test constantly and do water changes to keep the Ammonia and Nitrites in a tolerable range for your fish so your cycle is slower.
A build up of Phosphates encourages Hair algae, fish food can also build up on the substrate and make a mess that needs to be siphoned out. Pure ammonia from the store is a good cycling aid.
all that said :0 I think we've all cycled with fish at some time or the other and with care and attention to water test reading all will be well. again welcome to Fishlore. Just yell if you need anything
carol