Fishless Cycle with Tetrasafestart Plus?

I'm working on setting up a 20 gallon aquarium and want to make sure I know what I'm doing with the fishless cycle...hoping someone can chime in and tell me if I'm on the right track here.

Planning on dechlorinating the water---then waiting 24 hours----adding the Tetrasafestart Plus and using Dr Tim's ammonium chloride for ammonia source---where I put in 1 drop per gallon of water. Wait 24 hours---test for ammonia and nitrite---if 0---dose with ammonium chloride again--1 drop per gallon---if elevated about 1ppm for either ammonia or nitrite---do nothing and test again in 24 hours. Repeat steps--start testing for nitrates at some point---and wait until nitrates appear and ammonia and nitrite are 0 before adding fish....

When I do add fish---I should do it slowly, right? Eventually I'd like this tank to house 6-8 cardinal tetras, 6 panda cories, and 1 mystery snail.....which fish do you think I should add first to get started? I figure I'll add 2 initially since none of the fish I'm looking at like to be on their own....

Please let me know if there are flaws in this plan---or a better way. Thank you!

 

I know that you will need around a month for the cycle to fully complete, during that time test your water with a liquid resting kit and put fish food in the tank so that good bacteria can live off of the ammonia that it is producing, keep track of the stats of the ammonia nitrate and nitrite, don't add more than 2 fish at a time and don't follow the 1 gallon for one fish thing, that is outdated. I would start with something like shrimp, more specifically amona shrimp, sorry if I spelled that wrong, if you are looking to get more Teritoriall fish add them last. Hope this helps some

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to go the route where you just add ammonia to the tank rather than using fish food and waiting for it to break down and produce ammonia. Wondered if anyone else had attempted using Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride as their ammonia source paired with Tetrasafestart Plus for a kickstart to good bacteria. I know people generally use tetrasafestart plus for fish in---but wondered if I can do fishless with it as well so long as I'm feeding the bacteria with an ammonia source. I'm really not going to put shrimp is this tank---though I do think they're cool---I thought they were a little fragile and do better in an established tank. I'm wondering about which fish is the hardiest from the group I'm planning to eventually stock with---Cardinal tetras and panda cories. I just have the empty tank sitting in its place for now----waiting on my substrate to arrive and just trying to figure out the best way to get started on my first community tank.

 

Thanks for the reply. I'm trying to go the route where you just add ammonia to the tank rather than using fish food and waiting for it to break down and produce ammonia. Wondered if anyone else had attempted using Dr Tim's Ammonium Chloride as their ammonia source paired with Tetrasafestart Plus for a kickstart to good bacteria. I know people generally use tetrasafestart plus for fish in---but wondered if I can do fishless with it as well so long as I'm feeding the bacteria with an ammonia source. I'm really not going to put shrimp is this tank---though I do think they're cool---I thought they were a little fragile and do better in an established tank. I'm wondering about which fish is the hardiest from the group I'm planning to eventually stock with---Cardinal tetras and panda cories. I just have the empty tank sitting in its place for now----waiting on my substrate to arrive and just trying to figure out the best way to get started on my first community tank.

Don't use cories for anything under a 30 gallon tank, they need to be at least in a group of five to be healthy and happy and something like a 20 gallon tank might not be the best. Try to establish your tank and get it up and running than you should add shrimp or crayfish, there bioload is not that much and they are good cleaners

 

I haven't used Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride but many have used it here and with TSS+ successfully to cycle their tanks. With the method you just described, TSS+ will cycle your tank in about 2 weeks.

Is this a 20 high or long? Panda corys will be fine in a 20 gallon as they stay on the smaller side among cory species. I would go with a cooler water schooling fish though instead of cardinal tetras. How about neon tetras if you want a similar look?

 

Thanks el337. Good to know it can work! This is a 20 high which I know isn't as great as the long. All the petcos in my area had 20 highs----and I could order a 20 long but it would be much more expensive.....I'm keeping my receipt and still checking around---because I'd prefer the 20 long....

As for the tetras---I love the neon tetras---and actually prefer them to the cardinals---but had heard they can be a little harder to keep alive. Do you find they aren't to hard to keep healthy? Because I love the neons.

Thank you for the suggestions!

 

Neons and corys aren't the best first fish to add to a newly cycled tank. What else were you planning on stocking it with?

 

Just a mystery snail....

 

I guess you could choose either the neons or corys. But I would dose to 2ppm ammonia so it could handle a larger bioload and then add the 6 fish at once so they're less stressed being in a larger group rather than having just the 2 added.

 

Thank you.... Maybe I'll relook at stocking options. My favorite from this setup is the snail actually--and I'm mostly looking for fish that won't bother him. Second to the snail--I really love the panda cories so I hope I can make that work too. Thank you for the suggestions!!

 

If you haven't set up the tank yet, I'd get sand for the corys.

What about 2-3 honey gouramis (1m/2f)? They're very peaceful and will work with your stocking.

 

I ordered some black sand for the cories. I'm really excited about it---think it will be beautiful with the pandas and I'm hoping they enjoy it as much as I've heard they do.

The honey gouramis are lovely. I will definitely look into them! Thank you!

 

OK--finally getting started with my fishless cycle. I dosed to 2ppm with ammonia---and then added the tetrasafestartplus bacteria....

A couple more questions---I see some people talk about really turning up the heater during cycling....I started to do that and then read the Q and A with Tetra sticky which talked about how the bacteria lives between 40 and 80. And then I set my heater to 78 because I was afraid of killing it....Is that a good cycling temp? Or is higher ok and they're just talking about storing the bacteria?

Also---it looks like the safestart will skew my ammonia readings at first since the bacteria is mixed in with ammonium to keep it alive....so should I wait to test my ammonia levels 48 hours---or should I start testing after the 24 hours?

Thank you for all the help!

 

I believe they were talking about storage. It's better for bacteria growth if the temp is around 82 while you're fishless cycling.

I would test in 24 hours.

 

Ok thank you! Cranking up the heater!

 

From my perusing various forums, tss can stall if the ammonia gets above 2ppm early in the cycle. You may want to keep it at 1 to 1.5 ppm until you get the readings to drop to
.25 or less in 24 hours and then increase the dose to simulate a higher bioload.

 

I used the Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride with the TSS+ and ran into a lot of problems with a fishless cycle. However, after three weeks of no changes in my ammonia levels and no sign of nitrites or nitrates I came here to the forum to see what I was doing wrong. Advice I can give based on my own mistakes are don't forget to test your PH and make sure it's not really low and in the 6 range. That was a lot of my problem and I had no idea until the good people here told me! Also see what your GH and KH levels are.

 

Thanks! I tested my ph and found it to be kinda high---about 7.4----but I haven't tested for GH and KH. I keep looking for those in the LFS and never see them---think I'm going to order off amazon.

 

That's not a high ph. 7 is neutral but 6.5 to 8.5 is what a lot of people have to deal with. Ph being stable is the key factor. I usually use the test strips for gh and kh. I just ignore the other readings since I have an API liquid kit for that.

 

First tested day of fishless cycle: Ammonia has fallen to .5 (from 2 or a little below 2 yesterday)---0 nitrites. Didn't check nitrates because I figure it's too early.

Side note--My 4 year old helps me with testing our betta tank (she just collects water in the test tube--I do the chemical part) and she knows that yellow means no ammonia--and green would mean ammonia and she knows that's bad, She saw the green the other day after I tested the 20 gallon and said: "That's Monia! You gotta fix that!" Hahaha.

 

Haha that's cute!

If nothing changes as far as readings go tomorrow, I'd probably dose it up to 1ppm ammonia.

 

That's really encouraging news, you should check nitrates, otherwise there's something fishy going on with ammonia leaving and not turning into nitrites. Sometimes tss seems to process nitrites better than ammonia right off the bat.

 

Tested this afternoon. Ammonia: Holding at .5 Nitrites: 0 Nitrates: 5

Thanks for encouraging me to check the nitrates....I wouldn't have thought to even look for them at this point!

So---dose to 1 ppm with ammonia even if nitrates are up a little?

 

Have you tested your tap for nitrates? I don't think you mentioned it in your thread.

I'd dose to 1ppm ammonia anyway.

 

I haven't tested my tap for nitrates---but I do have a 5 gallon betta tank that has never tested positive for nitrates.

 

(tested that one today as well)

 

Ok, I would dose the ammonia to 1-2.