Kinda Funny

oneradtek

oneradtek

Active Member
So i read on here that everyone MUST wait a month or atleast a few weeks to cycle a tank to put anything in it?...hmm weird becuase ive never had a problem with putting fish in a few days after i start my tanks....i put live rock in, let them sit for 2 days and i curretnyl have 2 3-stripe damsels living nicely for 2 weeks....i think its just for people that want to start putting more sensitive fish in right away that cycling is necessary....thats my story atleast....and i never had problems cycling all 5 of my cichlid tanks before either....in my own opinion cycling is sometimes not necessary depending on what you want to put in at what time....
 
puffer32

puffer32

Active Member
Oh wow........... you are sooooooooo wrong, hope no one follows your example, thats just asking for trouble. Even damsels suffer if you put them through a cycle, please don't recommend this to people, it simply is not true :mad:
 
computrgk

computrgk

Member
it's not really the fact of weather it's necessary or not it's cruel to the fish it burns their gills i know that may not sound that bad but hey be my guest to burn your lungs i'm sure it hurts like hell cycling can be done with fish and to be more correct you are still cycling the tank your just doing it with fish it can be done it's just not right there is a much humane way of doing it like with an already dead cocktail shrimp it'll break down and cycle the tank just fine and cost less as well. Also those fish are fine now and may stay "fine" but you will live to regret starting with damsels as they get way to aggressive to keep with anything smaller or less aggresive. I started with damsels as my first fish and regret it to ths day cause those little shits are hard to catch i think i've got it figured out though now. I don't mean to be an ass but it just seems like this hobby takes a little more than does freshwater even cichlids are easy comapred to this and people should do as should have i when starting more research on keeping saltwater fish. good luck to ya and i hope everything works out for you and your tank.
 
murph

murph

Active Member
Well there is little doubt that tanks can be cycled with fish and there are ways to do it that cause little to no harm to the fish but that debate gets beat to death around here.
Here is something there can be no doubt about though. If a thriving reef tank is your ultimate goal there is a maturing process for the tank that last far longer than the 20 or 30 days it takes for the basic water chemistry to stabilize. This can involve a lot of different things. The addition of a fuge, a well planned and timed stocking of the tank, a general theme for the tank that cant really be deviated from much once decided on, much more attention payed to maintenance etc.
Your looking at months or most likely years so you may as well get use to the "patience" aspect right from the start. Try to think of it somewhat like a garden. You wouldn't expect to plant tomato seed on Monday and go out a pick enough for tomato sauce on Friday. Same thing applies here. The challenges are greater with SW but so are the rewards.
 
oneradtek

oneradtek

Active Member
exactly, everyone getting pissed is assuming im putting coral in there....which im not.....just fish....its said that damsels are good "cycling" fish.......yea , you should wait a few days, but you can put them in really soon and they will do well.....i got that from that fish magazine...dr. fosters...or soemthing...
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
just because they live doesn't mean they do well. Do you test your water parameters when you do this? Poor little things...
That's like saying "oh, that guy can live with a broken leg for the rest of his life, so i'm not going to take him to a hospital". Its just mean...
 
oneradtek

oneradtek

Active Member
yes but even broken bones heal...and pretty fast....but hey i wouldnt know anything about bones....radiologic imaging class of 2007

well i dont see how they would be faring bad when all fins are nice and pointed and swimming around happily.....would something with broken bones not be able to swim very good?
and damsels arent too hard to catch, already caught one of them that i didnt like....and took it back....
and burning lungs...? hmm well i think that dealing with smokers on a daily basis is just as bad if not worse
 
murph

murph

Active Member
Well I am not particularly POd. Matter of fact I just recently cycled a tank with livestock. Yes it can be done. Just monitor things very closely. I would suggest the use of an ammonia and nitrite locking agent for the first 30 days or so. Also an ammonia sensor rather than a chemical test kit will give you a reading for free ammonias that are the real gill burners and fish killers. If those start to rise they can be neutralized by adding some more locking agent. Amquel+ works very well for this purpose. Your cycle will continue just fine even with the use of these products.
I also carried out small daily water changes during this process. Tank cycled totally in 27 days. 0 ams 0 ites and two damsels that where perfectly fine after 24 days in the cycling tank. They had even grown a tad and had much better coloring than when I purchased them at the lfs. Good luck and welcome to the hobby.
 
rpick

rpick

Member
think of it like this,
you are locked in a car shop's work area with one or more cars running. you are locked in there for about a week. you may survive but your lungs will be damaged (not to mention your brain), your lifetime gets shorter.
that is the same thing that's happening to those fish. yes, they are cheap but why rush a process through. i'm so impatient but it took my tank 2 monthxs to cycle. no fish or dead shrimp were used. gthis hobby takes patients and care to be successful.
i kept cichlids too. piece o' cake compared to saltwater.
 
oneradtek

oneradtek

Active Member
not when u do kenyis or auratus
and you would probably die if u were locked in a garage for a day with no fresh circulation of air....
theyre damsels...little shits as one guy put it.....theyre doing fine
 
carshark

carshark

Active Member
As you have your own ideas and do things the way you want to, please do not suggest doing this practice to anyone. I have a feeling you arent doing this the proper way as murph suggests, which we were in quite the debate about a couple of weeks ago. Its your money and your hobby, who are we to flame you for what you want to do? however when you start handing out advice about a subject such as cycling, which it seems your knowledge is not far reaching, thats starts to hurt the integrity of this site which is so established. I am not a moderator of this site, nor the owner, but handing out bad advice in a site which is dedicated to proper treatments and information so this hobby becomes so much more of a joy than a chore, is just not cool in my book..... Again let me say this, I am not flaming you here at all, It is your hobby do what you will...
 
oneradtek

oneradtek

Active Member
hey just so you know guys ive just been messing around with all of you....haha i just know how to get you all riled up haha....its been fun.....oh yea and cycling is a crucial part of starting a tank.....so my real advice would be to wait....and do it the right way, how ever fish can be used but do it later in the cyce when the levels arent so strong and make sure to use certain chemicals available to help it along....
 
murph

murph

Active Member
Yikes... Your kind of coming on like a bull in a china shop here.
Like I said I believe that that are relatively safe ways to cycle with livestock and that is how it was done for years, but there is a big difference between making every effort to make sure that the livestock is not purposely put through miserable conditions and a flagrant disregard for the animals life.
Its starting to sound to me like you may go through quite a bit more than a few damsels before your tank is cycled.
Ya gotta remember most people on this forum consider these animals as pets and are rather sensitive to anything they see as purposefull mistreatment and rightly so. Those of us that consider this more of a hobby than the keeping of a pet need to keep this in mind.
 
J

jdragunas

Guest
Originally Posted by oneradtek
hey just so you know guys ive just been messing around with all of you....haha i just know how to get you all riled up haha....its been fun.....oh yea and cycling is a crucial part of starting a tank.....so my real advice would be to wait....and do it the right way, how ever fish can be used but do it later in the cyce when the levels arent so strong and make sure to use certain chemicals available to help it along....


You're a funny one...
i was gettin ready to reach through my computer and strangle you...
 
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