finished cycling?

Oceane

Read the cycling part of the forum, and follow Blue's advice i.e. ask questions. Not all LFS are that bad, mine's pretty ok and the ownwer and his son give good advice (not always so the employees) but i gueess they are pretty busy most days so you have to hang around if you want your questions answered. As for fishkeeping friends you should make plenty in this forum. It does help to vent your anger though

girlofgod

thanks...i think ive read all the stickys i could find...hee hee...oh, and i went back to my lfs store tonite and vented my frustration with their inconsistency...i wasnt mean, just frank...anyways...thanks for your help!

bri

Tracy

Hello, I guess I am an "LFS" (although I haven't got a clue what those initials stand for!!); I work part-time at a Petsmart store. We do not receive any type of training, unfortunately, but I 'hand picked' the job because of my interest and experience with all types of pets :) and, fortunately, I was offered employment due to my interest. Although I do not claim to be any kind of expert, I have had positive experiences with fish-keeping and find it to be a very rewarding (and addicting!!) hobby. Since your "LFS" gave you poor advice, I will tell you what I have learned from experience: get a bottle of the bacterial supplement which 'speeds up' and/or 'assists' the growth of the beneficial bacteria. Not sure if it is good advice or not, but from experience, I have never started a tank or 'upgraded' without using a product such as Cycle, or "Stability", and to date, I have not experienced fish loss. Just for the record, they do NOT tell us that at the pet store, but I tend to suggest it to customers because of my personal experience. Good luck to you :) .

Nick

I dont know if I'm going to get backed up on this but I'm sure those work and do help speed up the cycling process but eventually the bacteria dye's off is what i've heard. But I wouldnt recommend buying any cycling product, part of this hobby is learning to be patient. So if you cant even wait out cycling a tank and you need chemicals to add to the water, than it may end up being fatal. Just my opinion I dont know if anyone else feels the same. I have also heard blue say that he doesnt recommend chemicals unless its an emergency like fishy's illness.

Nick

Lupin

Well said, Nick. Using chemicals during cycling is useless anyway as you are turning your tank into chemical soup.
It's best to apply patience on your part while doing the cycling process in your tank.

Tracy

Can you "cycle" a tank without fish or ammonia in it? I have customers that start their tanks and let them run for a few weeks without adding fish, and keep getting their water tested, but they never mention having added ammonia or anything else to it. How does a tank full of water cycle without anything in there? Lastly, I have never thought of the bacertial supplements as a 'chemical'; I thought they contained 'live' bacteria and were safe. I am shocked!

Lupin

No, you can't cycle a tank without a fish or ammonia. It won't also work easily without adding bacterial sources. Your bacterial sources are usually filter media and decors(even substrate) from an established tank.
If you don't add bacterial sources, of course, the ammonia will not be converted to nitrites which would turn into nitrates. Fish wastes produced ammonia which is toxic to the fish which is why adding bacterial sources is important as bacteria containing in the media can convert the ammonia into nitrites.
As for chemicals, they won't work at all. How will live bacteria survive inside a bottle as chemicals? Silly question, in my opinion. Using chemicals is like turning a tank into chemical soup.

girlofgod

why do they market those products as "Live bacteria" then? it says right on the bottle, contains live bacterica....it sure is confusing...

Lupin

A lot of products are not that good. One example besides "Live Bacteria" are the "pH up" and pH down". They may adjust the pH but you cannot really control it thus the pH levels tend to bounce because of them. Bouncing levels can harm the fish.

Tracy

Confusing and discouraging to say the least. I was so pleased with my good fortune of no fish loss from 'new tank syndrome' and always believed that Cycle was such a miracle, such a fish saver! Chemical soup? Yuck! The upside, I guess, is that none of the fish died because of a new set up.