# I Never Cycled My Tank..



## 17166 (May 8, 2007)

I got three >2" red bellies and I must have missed the whole tank cycling thing that I keep reading about. The fish have been in the tank for almost a week, I understand kind of how cycling works but I'm just curious if my fish are going to be okay or not, should I get my water tested or something?


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## SUS (Mar 10, 2007)

Jimbo245 said:


> I got three >2" red bellies and I must have missed the whole tank cycling thing that I keep reading about. The fish have been in the tank for almost a week, I understand kind of how cycling works but I'm just curious if my fish are going to be okay or not, should I get my water tested or something?


I did the same thing when I first got fish, testing your water wont do you any good this early. Try to pick up some Bio Spira it will help speed the cycle up.


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## miamibusta69 (Feb 17, 2007)

in this situation do not change the water right? even with a bacteria bloom (white cloudy tank). also you might wana try to get the food out of the tank as soon as they finish no more than 30 min.


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## skubasteve! (Feb 14, 2007)

Get some bio-spira and put it in there, Im pretty sure it will help boost the bacteria that you need...


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## 17166 (May 8, 2007)

I'll get some of that bio stuff today, the pet store guy told me to buy this stress zyme with beneficial bacteria (it looks just like the stress coat bottle I have).. but I'm assuming that this is something different?

Should I not do a water change? I was planning on doing it today because it's pretty dirty


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## Coldfire (Aug 20, 2003)

I would test the water just to see where the parameters are at currently. Just being a week in, you should have NH4 already, and perhaps even NO2. In another week, you should start seeing NO3. As stated above, you can also add any bacteria additive (e.g. bio-spira, Seachem's Stability, biozyme, etc... there are tons out there now) to help kick start the cycle or simply to help stablize the bacteria. You can have success without properly cycling the tank, but you need to keep an eye on it. If the NH4 levels get to high, you might want to do a water change just to help lower it. You don't want to run into "brown blood disease" and stuff like that.


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## SAFETYpin (Feb 1, 2004)

I would test for ammonia and try and keep it around 2ppm. Just control it with water changes. Make sure to not leave any uneaten food in there as that will contribute to the problem. High nitrite can casue brown blood dieseas as stated by Coldfire. Just add one or two teaspoons of table salt to treat for that. The bacteria will establish themselve on the ammonia your fish provide, you just dont want that ammonia and nitrite to build up to fatal or damaging concentrations. Test your water and post your results here.


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## 17166 (May 8, 2007)

SAFETYpin said:


> I would test for ammonia and try and keep it around 2ppm. Just control it with water changes. Make sure to not leave any uneaten food in there as that will contribute to the problem. High nitrite can casue brown blood dieseas as stated by Coldfire. Just add one or two teaspoons of table salt to treat for that. The bacteria will establish themselve on the ammonia your fish provide, you just dont want that ammonia and nitrite to build up to fatal or damaging concentrations. Test your water and post your results here.


Petsmart didn't have bio spira so I got this stuff called "cycle" and poured half the small bottle in. Tomorrow I can go to the store and get the test stuff or have them test it. I appreciate the help..


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## monstermatt (Feb 2, 2007)

im kinda in the same boat here, i think meds re-cycled my whole friggin tank, soo iused that ammo lock, and now im using that cycle but next time im goinj with stress zyme cuz thats what i got on hand, keep us posted dude im interested, this place is cool for help!!!1


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## tiran (Apr 27, 2007)

stress zyme is not as good as people think,your best bet is to go with the bio spira because its actual live bacteria that works faster and better just make shure you keep it refrigerated and the bottle will last at least six months then if you dont use it with in those months the bacteria will die off stress zyme is to slow. You can have boi spira on hand when ever you run into a ammonia bloom.


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## flashover00 (Oct 19, 2006)

Listen to Coldfire....he said exactly what to do

Test every couple of hours to see what your params are
Do water changes when levels get dangerous

ALSO...just go to your lfs and purchase some media from them....many stores will sell you a seeded sponge or some other media that contains colonized beneficial baceria. Pop it in your filter and let it do its job and you should be fine...

If you can find bio-spira then by all means use it....but if not there is no need to toss in tons of "bacteria" additives that IMO arent worth the money


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## 17166 (May 8, 2007)

I've been adding stuff called cycle and stress zyme.. NH3 hasn't gone over 0.01 since I bought a live NH3 tester the other day.


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## monstermatt (Feb 2, 2007)

arent very large water changes not recomended when trying to "cycle" the tank, im thinking if i add the bio spira, what should i do in regards to water changes at that point? im thinking 50% water changes are going to be detrimental to the cycle thing, i have a 90 gallon , but if i do do larege water changes should i just replenish the bio spira that i removed? kinda like when i remove the salt i have in there after a water change, i replenish it, is bio spira the same way???


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