many people on this site know nothing about fishless cycling which is a much better way to cycle. fishless cycling involves buying pure ammonia which is most commonly found at ace hardware. if you cant get it you can use raw shrimp. what your aiming for is to eventually get ammo-0
nitrites-0
and a showing of nitrates
without harming fish. the great thing about this is that you can put half of your final stock straight in the tank bc the raw shrimp will bring the ammonia much higher than fish would. now the shrimp method is much easier you just throw in 2-3 shrimp and wait till the cycle is complete. now with the pure ammonia you will have to dose the ammonia up to 4PPM whenever it drops. you are cycled when the ammonia can drop in 24 hours and you dont have nitrites but have a showing of nitrates. this process takes about 3 weeks to a month.another plus is that you dont have to do water changes during the cycle until the end. at the end you just do a 50% water chage and get your fish!!, the nytrogen cycle is where ammonia is converted to its equaly poisonous form nitrites than it is converted into a safe version called nitrates. the nitrates have to be removed when they get over 20ppm and you remove it through weekly water changes. seeded material can also help speed this process up. just go to someone who has a fully cycled tank and get some of their gravel or a filter pad! if anybody has questions post below.

Good post, might want to add something about how the nitrogen cycle works exactly. Also, putting the raw shrimp in a mesh filter bag helps when you need to remove it.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

I only use fish to cycle, it's safer and faster.

You should ask for your method to be edited onto the sticky fishless cycle thread.

Clean it up a bit (capitalize and punctuate) separate it into a few paragraphs so it doesn't look like a block of text.

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I think the info in the sticky about fishless cycling covers everything mentioned here, unless I missed something. Not really much to it.

Good morning all...

For what this information is worth, this is how I've always fishless cycled a tank. Please keep in mind this is for larger tanks. Never really messed with small ones, so not sure how this would work for them.

Set up the tank with light, power filter, heater, air pump and air stone.
Put in a couple of inches of standard pea gravel substrate.
Fill the tank and plant it well.
Plug in everything and let it all run for 30 days.
After a month, put in a few small fish and you're done.

Easy, peasy, lemon squeezy.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

BB...I would never fault your method if it has worked for you. But....I think your method is more along the lines of a silent cycle where you add plants and wait until they are established before adding fish.

Good morning jr...

You're likely right. Never thought about the specific name for the procedure. Just had the steps passed to me some years ago from a friend who'd been in the fishkeeping hobby for a long time.

It seemed very safe for the fish and easy for a rookie new to the hobby. Have several large tanks now and the system has never failed.

B

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Low Tech Water Building Keeper

i didnt even realize there was a sticky about fishless cycling! oh and fish in cycling is not safe at all atleast not for the fish.

You are incorrect about that, it's far safer and more humane. Ive never lost a fish and my fish are very healthy.

that makes no since! fishless cycling allows the tank to cycle without hurting the fish with ammo and nitrites. just bc you havent killed any doesnt mean its not hurting the fish. what is your reasoning behind fish in cycling being safer?

I guess I could ask you the same thing, there's zero data to prove otherwise. It all comes down to personal experience and preference. Fishless cycle is a personal preference, nothing more.

"just bc you haven't killed any doesn't mean it's not hurting the fish"
- are you kidding me ?

Let's see, never lost a fish + healthy fish = not hurting any fish. It works every single time too and cycles faster than with fishless cycle.

Fish need to be part of the cycling process, it's their underworld environment. The whole dogma fishless cycle came from some fish green peacer who thought it was cruel on the fish so they came up with the idea of fishless (artificial) cycling. The fact is, it's not cruel and it's never been cruel. In fact, it's just the opposite, it's safer, faster and more humane.

Cycling a tank with fish has zero impact on the fish (if you do it right). Water changes have to be done regardless of which method you choose so you may as well add the fish and feed them.

The only difference between a cycled tank and one that is not cycled, is the beneficial bacterial. BB are cool because they make your job easier, however, they should not and do not replace the need to do water changes. They are beneficial that's all, with fish cycle, your tank will cycle fast and the beneficial bacterial will be all over the place. My ammonia and nitrites are always zero and I feed my fish pretty good, nitrates are normal as well and I have a well stocked tank.

I won't tell you what's right for you, if fishless is your thing good, just don't tell me what I'm doing is hurting my fish. You don't know my fish or me. I know many pros who all use fish in cycle too, it's a beautiful thing

Safer for what? A fishless cycle has nothing to be safe...for. There is nothing to hurt or kill and nothing to be humane about.

stingray - what you're saying doesn't make sense. A fishless cycle has nothing in a tank but water. Your method risk losing fish. If you have been successful to the point you haven't lost any of them, that's great. Exposing a fish to ammonia or nitrites for periods of time can shorten their lifespan.

Cycling with fish exposes the fish to small amounts of ammonia and nitrite. It is harmful to the fish, there's no doubt about that. Fishless cycling is the only way to make 100% sure you're not messing your fish up by exposing them to hostile environments before adding them to the tank.

Sorry, I just had to throw my .02 (nod to bob) into the ring, cause I'm very against cycling with fish.

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Officially fishless until after the move....tune in later for details!

Quoted for truth. This thread doesn't have a bright future, hence the lock.

*edit*

And starting your thread with 'many people on this site know nothing about fishless cycling' isn't a great way to start your post. Consider it a warning, next time construct your thread properly if you expect to have a valid discussion about something.

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