Need help on cycling 10 gallon tank

I was thinking of using Seachem Prime for water conditioner and Seachem Stability Water Conditioner bc I heard it helps speed up the process. I was also thinking of getting Dr. Tim’s ammonia and his beneficial bacteria to start the cycle.
Do all of these products work well together?
Am I even supposed to use all of these/similar programs to cycle a tank?
Do I add all of these products together in one day?
Is this a good way to cycle a tank? Or should I do something else?

 

I only used dr Tim's ammonia, prime & plants when I cycled my 10gal . You want to use prime for when you need to do small water changes when ammonia or nitrate levels get too high, they get too high , it will stall and kill the Beneficial bacteria. Make sure to condition water you add back because even the bacteria can die just like fish would . You can add bottled bacteria to help jump start the cycle but itwill still take up to 2 or 3 months to fully cycle.
Also using prime and stability together would be pointless as it's about the same thing. Just stick with prime when setting the tank up and when during WC.

You'll know your tank is cycled when ammonia & nitrites go from 2ppm down to 0ppm within 24hrs . That's how you know you have healthy bacteria to eat away the ammonia and nitrites for fish

 

I only used dr Tim's ammonia, prime & plants when I cycled my 10 gallon . You want to use prime for when you need to do small water changes when ammonia or nitrate levels get too high, they get too high , it will stall and kill the Beneficial bacteria. Make sure to condition water you add back because even the bacteria can die just like fish would . You can add bottled bacteria to help jump start the cycle but itwill still take up to 2 or 3 months to fully cycle.
Also using prime and stability together would be pointless as it's about the same thing. Just stick with prime when setting the tank up and when during WC.

You'll know your tank is cycled when ammonia & nitrites go from 2ppm down to 0ppm within 24hrs . That's how you know you have healthy bacteria to eat away the ammonia and nitrites for fish

TYSM! All of this cycling stuff is really confusing me rn and this was really helpful.
If I were to use the beneficial bacteria, would I have to put it in before or after the ammonia? Does it matter in which order I put it in?

 

Before, because the ammonia is what the beneficial bacteria eats. That's way you'll already have bacteria in the tank and you'll just be feeding them the ammonia throughout the month every day.

I would only dose ammonia to about 2ppm, for me it was just 10-15 drops , too high ammonia can stall the cycle though. Start with 10 or 15 drops at a time and test the water. You'll have to test the water frequently to see if the ammonia goes down & to make sure it doesn't get too high. when it goes down below 1ppm , add 10 more drops to raise it again to feed the bacteria. It will take a week or 2 to convert to nitrites, that's why you test frequently so you don't miss it. Keep dosing ammonia and tracking water parameters. After a while , nitrates will get high, do water changes so they don't stall the cycle. Again you'll know you're tank is cycled when ammonia & nitrites convert from 2ppm to 0ppm in 24hrs or less !! Let's you know you have enough established healthy bacteria to eat the ammonia your fish will produce. The cycle will take time so just keep up with the parameters and take the time to learn whatever you need! Good luck

 

Before, because the ammonia is what the beneficial bacteria eats. That's way you'll already have bacteria in the tank and you'll just be feeding them the ammonia throughout the month every day.

I would only dose ammonia to about 2ppm, for me it was just 10-15 drops , too high ammonia can stall the cycle though. Start with 10 or 15 drops at a time and test the water. You'll have to test the water frequently to see if the ammonia goes down & to make sure it doesn't get too high. when it goes down below 1ppm , add 10 more drops to raise it again to feed the bacteria. It will take a week or 2 to convert to nitrites, that's why you test frequently so you don't miss it. Keep dosing ammonia and tracking water parameters. After a while , nitrates will get high, do water changes so they don't stall the cycle. Again you'll know you're tank is cycled when ammonia & nitrites convert from 2ppm to 0ppm in 24hrs or less !! Let's you know you have enough established healthy bacteria to eat the ammonia your fish will produce. The cycle will take time so just keep up with the parameters and take the time to learn whatever you need! Good luck

Tysm again! I have one more question if you don’t mind (I really don’t want to mess up). When the nitrates gets high, how big of a WC should I do?

 

Tysm again! I have one more question if you don’t mind (I really don’t want to mess up). When the nitrates gets high, how big of a WC should I do?

Yeah no problem! You always want to keep Nitrates below 20ppm. If they get past 40ppm , do a small 25% water change and test from there. No more that 50% at a time as the beneficial bacteria floats in the water as well and you want as much in there as you can.

 

Yeah no problem! You always want to keep Nitrates below 20ppm. If they get past 40ppm , do a small 25% water change and test from there. No more that 50% at a time as the beneficial bacteria floats in the water as well and you want as much in there as you can.

Ty! Every website I looked at said something slightly different about cycling and I got really confused lol. I'm going to order all the supplies I need today, so hopefully I'll start the cycle by the end of this week .

 

Ty! Every website I looked at said something slightly different about cycling and I got really confused lol. I'm going to order all the supplies I need today, so hopefully I'll start the cycle by the end of this week .

Make sure you add a heater in the tank as well, I know some people don't because there's no fish in the tank but it will help the bacteria grow faster and get the cycle over with quicker! Good luck

 

I was thinking of using Seachem Prime for water conditioner and Seachem Stability Water Conditioner bc I heard it helps speed up the process. I was also thinking of getting Dr. Tim’s ammonia and his beneficial bacteria to start the cycle.
Do all of these products work well together?
Am I even supposed to use all of these/similar programs to cycle a tank?
Do I add all of these products together in one day?
Is this a good way to cycle a tank? Or should I do something else?

Yes, all of these products will work together. The only time you need to add prime though is when you first fill up the tank and when you need to add water due to evaporation. You will also add it to any new water when you have to do a partial water change. When doing a fishless cycle ANY of the many water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines will work just as well as Prime.

Stability is bacteria in a bottled. One post stated that prime and stability are the same thing. They aren't. Prime is a water conditioner. Stability is bacteria. It is supposed to help jump start your cycle. it has helped some folks. Hopefully it will help start yours.

Your Dr.Tims ammonia is food for your cycle and you will continue adding it until the cycle is done and ready for fish. they will then produce the ammonia to keep feeding your cycle. If you are getting both Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride and his one and only there is no need to use Stability since both it and the one and only are bacteria in a bottle. Just follow the direction on the products and your cycle should move right along.

Add enough ammonia to get it up to approximately 2ppm. Higher than that will not kill the bacteria but 2ppm should be plenty for a 10 gallon tank. Then add your one and only.

Just keep an eye on the ammonia level and add more when ever it gets down close to zero. Once your ammonia starts going down you can start testing for nitrites. No need to test for nitrates yet. It will take some time for them to show up.

You can allow both nitrites and nitrates to get pretty high before they will affect the cycling process. As long as the ammonia keeps going down your cycle is still moving forward. Should it stop going down it will be time to do a water change.

Contrary to something you may have read the bacteria isn't free floating in the water. It is growing on your filter media and on all the surfaces in the tank so when you need to do a water change you WILL NOT be removing bacteria.

I hope this helps. If you have questions I will be happy to answer them

 

Yes, all of these products will work together. The only time you need to add prime though is when you first fill up the tank and when you need to add water due to evaporation. You will also add it to any new water when you have to do a partial water change. When doing a fishless cycle ANY of the many water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines will work just as well as Prime.

Stability is bacteria in a bottled. One post stated that prime and stability are the same thing. They aren't. Prime is a water conditioner. Stability is bacteria. It is supposed to help jump start your cycle. it has helped some folks. Hopefully it will help start yours.

Your Dr.Tims ammonia is food for your cycle and you will continue adding it until the cycle is done and ready for fish. they will then produce the ammonia to keep feeding your cycle. If you are getting both Dr. Tim's ammonium chloride and his one and only there is no need to use Stability since both it and the one and only are bacteria in a bottle. Just follow the direction on the products and your cycle should move right along.

Add enough ammonia to get it up to approximately 2ppm. Higher than that will not kill the bacteria but 2ppm should be plenty for a 10 gallon tank. Then add your one and only.

Just keep an eye on the ammonia level and add more when ever it gets down close to zero. Once your ammonia starts going down you can start testing for nitrites. No need to test for nitrates yet. It will take some time for them to show up.

You can allow both nitrites and nitrates to get pretty high before they will affect the cycling process. As long as the ammonia keeps going down your cycle is still moving forward. Should it stop going down it will be time to do a water change.

Contrary to something you may have read the bacteria isn't free floating in the water. It is growing on your filter media and on all the surfaces in the tank so when you need to do a water change you WILL NOT be removing bacteria.

I hope this helps. If you have questions I will be happy to answer them

Ty! If the ammonia would stop going down, would I also do a 25% WC? You also mentioned that the you can let the nitrites and nitrates to get pretty high before doing a WC, so how high would you let them get before doing a WC? I’m assuming when they are past 40ppm, since that was mentioned above?

 

Ty! If the ammonia would stop going down, would I also do a 25% WC? You also mentioned that the you can let the nitrites and nitrates to get pretty high before doing a WC, so how high would you let them get before doing a WC? I’m assuming when they are past 40ppm, since that was mentioned above?

You can actually let them get much higher than that before being concerned about it. As long as the ammonia is still being processed, meaning still going down once it starts going down, The nitrites and nitrates can get pretty high. Sometimes I see folks with both nitrites and nitrates pegging out the chart and their cycle is still moving forward. The thing to look for is what is happening with the ammonia.

It is best to keep both nitrites and nitrates down to readable levels though. When it comes to nitrites that deep purple in the test tube could be 5 or 50. Once pegged out you can't know for sure without doing a dilution test. You are no where near that point right now though so I won't go into that. Letting the nitrates get up to over 100 isn't going to stall your cycle either.

You may want to take a few minutes to read this thread "Symptoms of a stalled cycle". It is a little article I wrote explaining how to regognise a stalled cycle and how to fix it.It may come in handy is down the line you find yourself in that situation.