Cycle additive. Good or Bad Idea?
- Thread starter rudy1121
- Start date
rcmcg
Member
Are you talking about an "instant " liquid cycle that you purchace from a lfs? If so I would stay away from it. I used it in a 40 gallon tank and had not problems until about a week after I added fish. Then I started a mini cycle. My fish survived, but it was a lot of worry and water changes. I wondered then if it had something to do with the liquid cycle. A couple of weeks ago another lady on the boards had the same thing happen...she had used the liquid cycle as well. If I had to do it again, I would try it with a shrimp! Good Luck! Your new hobby will be worth the wait.
T
thomas712
Guest
Those products don't really hurt anything, but they are not miracle's and just will not stop, super speedup, or cure a cycle from happening. All they do is help establish those certain bacters' that will form on there own anyway. Once those bacteria are formed you start seeing the dead diatoms which usually show up as rust or brown on the sand and rocks. The diatoms have nothing to do with the bacterias from the cylce itself but from the unused silica in the water column. Once the silica is used up you don't normally see them anymore.
What anyone wants to really do with a cycle is to challange it well. Make sure your ammonia spiked, not just a bit but plenty. Same with nitrites. This is one reason we just toss a cocktail shrimp into a new tank, it gives plenty of breakdown so you get lots of ammonia, and a really well challenged cycle.
Thomas
What anyone wants to really do with a cycle is to challange it well. Make sure your ammonia spiked, not just a bit but plenty. Same with nitrites. This is one reason we just toss a cocktail shrimp into a new tank, it gives plenty of breakdown so you get lots of ammonia, and a really well challenged cycle.
Thomas
