im trying the mollies cycle

[kinghammer]

i bought 5 black mollies,is that enuff to cycle a 125? PLEASE read my other post on my setup,i need some resurence on my setup.i really dont want to lose any fish once im cycled.i had the same setup on a 90 2 years ago,my heater broke and killed all my fish,being totally crushed i never restocked it.i had a clown and niger trigger,lion,and a fish i could nt even name,looked like a alien with wings and claws.

 

[royce]

You don't need to cycle with live fish. Do you have a deep sand bed and live rock? I cycled with mail order live rock; the die-off from shipping provided the ammonia to start the cycle. If you don't have new LR, try cycling with a couple of cocktail shrimp. You don't want to put any live fish thru the cycle if you do not have to. Put in the LR or shrimp and test for ammonia. Once you get high readings of ammonia, then your cycle has started. Then you should see a rise in your nitrites and then nitrates. The ammonia and nitrites should drop first and once they and your nitrates drop to zero, then you can start to think about slowly adding fish/cleanup crew. Only add 1 fish every 2-3 weeks, and only if your ammonia, nitrites and nitrates are not rising.

 

[kinghammer]

ug,i lost 3 out of 5 mollies already on the 3 rd day.1 got killed by a powerhead,the other 2 just died.maybe i should try some lr to cycle.i cant use the shrimp,the wife would kill me if it smelled bad.

 

[squidworth]

This is not much help on your problem but I just cycled with shrimp and all I can say is WOW DID IT SMELL THE HOUSE UP! Whew. I had to answer to the wife everytime she breathed, "That tank wont smell like that forever will it" <img src="graemlins//eek.gif" border="0" alt="[eek]" />

 

[chadillac]

try using damsels not mollies I know everyone here hates seeing someone that uses damsels but guess what???? It works,I have done several tanks and every one has used damsels and they have always done well. The whole shrimp thing, a lot of posts I,ve seen say that they tend to smell. So I don't think I'll ever do it that way. Like they always say "if it ain't broke don't fix it" but hey, to each their own...right????

 

[kinghammer]

squid,thats funny,i bet you heard it twice a day.hehe i dont even want to deal with that.well i went to the lfs and got a big tomato clown for $15,plus i have the 2 mollies still.and he told me to add some tlc(some kind of cycle in a bottle),which i did. i ll wait atleast 2 weeks and just keep testing my water.i d rather buy fish i ll keep later,no damsels for me.that clown is as big as 4 damsels.at that rate i saved 5 bucks.lfs said everyone has had great luck with the tlc brand cycle and a few fish.i went down there thinking i would buy some lr to cycle,he said dont bother with the cheap lighting i have,and with having a 125 it would be very costly,im going fo tank anyway.i have a cc bottom,2 fluidize sand filters,2 hot magnums,cpr skimmer,8 watt uv,2 802 poweheads,and the cheap lights that came with it.