Prime/aquasafe

Starting fishless cycle for 10g, have trial of aquasafe from 3g, goin to buy prime in couple days. Can I add water and start cycling without using anything for couple days.

 

The water needs to be free of chlorine/chloramine before the good bacteria can start growing, and they also need an ammonia source as food. So long as those two conditions are met, it will start cycling.

 

Ok so I do need it added to water. I have fish food and tetra aquaclear so I can use that until I can get prime and add it when necessary. And if necessary ammonia. Thank you.

 

Ok so I do need it added to water. I have fish food and tetra aquaclear so I can use that until I can get prime and add it when necessary. And if necessary ammonia. Thank you.

Bacteria is killed by chlorine/chloramines as was already stated So it is essential for them and any aquatic life to always have a water conditioner added to the water first before anything is added to the aquarium.

I would get a bottle of ammonia. Works faster as it doesn't have to break down first and is probably more measurable than fish food or so.

 

Ok. I can handle that. For the moment I will get it up and running with I have and then use ammonia and prime when I can get over to store. I have to do stuff strategically as I hahe a 3 and 1 yr old at home so rinsing gravel, filling tank, etc etc is best done with least attention drawn lol so I'll do what I can now before they wake up and use fish food and what I have on hand until I can get to store later or tomorrow

 

I can imagine how it must be rather difficult with children that young! ... Put the 3 yr/old in front of some funny cartoons and the 1 yr/old to sleep, they won't even notice haha!

And you don't even have to use fish food but you can measure the ammonia before putting in the pure ammonia to see how much more is needed to get to your desired ppm.

 

Little refresher
Aquarium Nitrogen Cycle

READ FIRST: Freshwater Beginner Important Topics

 

Good information to keep refreshing on but not related to question posted initially but thank you for extra info.

 

There seems to be a bit of misunderstanding about Prime. Prime isn't something someone has to have to cycle a tank when doing a fishless cycle. Prime doesn't do anything to help a tank cycle.

Prime is first and foremost a water conditioner just like your AquaSafe but Prime goes a bit farther by helping when one is doing a fish in cycle. The fish have to be protected from the ammonia and/or nitrite spikes. With no fish one doesn't have to have prime.

If you have chlorine in your source water you just need to treat the first water added to the tank and subsequent top offs as the water evaporates or if a water change needs to be done at some point during the cycle. Any of the many water conditioner will work for this just as well as Prime.

Prime neutralizes low amounts of ammonia and while doing a fishless cycle you don't want your ammonia neutralized. If you have Prime and have added it to a newly set up tank its ability to bind ammonia only last from 24 to 48 hours so after that the ammonia will be free for the cycle to use. After the original addition of Prime one doesn't want to add any more when doing a fishless cycle other than the small amount added to the top off water because one doesn't want the ammonia bound up since it is food for the bacteria we are trying to grow.

The only thing you have to add is an ammonia source after the original water conditioner to remove the chlorine if it is present in your tap water. That ammonia source can be the fish food you are adding but it is hard to control the amount of ammonia when using fish food. If at all possible pure liquid ammonia is a better choice.

Please let me know if I wasn't clear enough and I will try again.

 

There seems to be a bit of misunderstanding about Prime. Prime isn't something someone has to have to cycle a tank when doing a fishless cycle. Prime doesn't do anything to help a tank cycle.

Prime is first and foremost a water conditioner just like your AquaSafe but Prime goes a bit farther by helping when one is doing a fish in cycle. The fish have to be protected from the ammonia and/or nitrite spikes. With no fish one doesn't have to have prime.

If you have chlorine in your source water you just need to treat the first water added to the tank and subsequent top offs as the water evaporates or if a water change needs to be done at some point during the cycle. Any of the many water conditioner will work for this just as well as Prime.

Prime neutralizes low amounts of ammonia and while doing a fishless cycle you don't want your ammonia neutralized. If you have Prime and have added it to a newly set up tank its ability to bind ammonia only last from 24 to 48 hours so after that the ammonia will be free for the cycle to use. After the original addition of Prime one doesn't want to add any more when doing a fishless cycle other than the small amount added to the top off water because one doesn't want the ammonia bound up since it is food for the bacteria we are trying to grow.

The only thing you have to add is an ammonia source after the original water conditioner to remove the chlorine if it is present in your tap water. That ammonia source can be the fish food you are adding but it is hard to control the amount of ammonia when using fish food. If at all possible pure liquid ammonia is a better choice.

Please let me know if I wasn't clear enough and I will try again.

Nice one