Pure Aquarium Balls/Cycling fishless

[Skip]

I bought some last year.. used them then.. but have not needed them again until yesterday.. bought some guppies to have at office.. wife don't know..
but i was curious.. to see the shelf life.. it says it expires in 2014! so i assume they have two year self life as long as you keep the lid shut tight!

guppies are good so far

[Discusdude7]

No. I tried Dr. Tim's one and only and the aqua balls. I'm telling you Elliots these things are amazing!!!! They do much more than cycling. Tank is crystal clear and water parameters are perfect.. As a test I put 4 ppm of ammonia in a 75 gallon tank-- I dropped 7 balls in my aqua clear 110. Within 15 minutes I had no ammonia no nitrites...

Are you sure it wasn't 15 hours?I tried this and it didn't work.....

[JERRYKEVIN]

Discusdude- I put the balls in the intake tubes of my aqua clear 110's-Thinking they would stay in the tubes and slowly dissolve. Did not happen as it sucked the balls into the filter and broke the balls up that's why results were so quick as the bacteria was all released into the water vs the balls slowly dissolving over time.

[Discusdude7]

Discusdude- I put the balls in the intake tubes of my aqua clear 110's-Thinking they would stay in the tubes and slowly dissolve. Did not happen as it sucked the balls into the filter and broke the balls up that's why results were so quick as the bacteria was all released into the water vs the balls slowly dissolving over time.

Does the bacteria stay in the water and go away when you do a WC or does it attach to surfaces?

[JERRYKEVIN]

It should attach to filter media. If you are trying to cycle a tank do not do any water changes until cycled--Unless you have fish in already. If you have fish in the tank do water changes and add some balls every time you change the water. It is a great product. If you have fish in just keep your on on water conditions.

[Discusdude7]

How long does it take to cycle?

[JERRYKEVIN]

6-15 days.. Are there fish in your tank?

[Discusdude7]

No adding pure ammonia atm. Fish will be added tmrw. I added 4 ppm yesterday at 2:00 and this morning it went down to 2 ppm. Is it suppose to take this long? (oh and I added a capful of QuickStart yesterday night, im not sure if it was the QuickStart or the balls that made the ammonia go down)
This mornings test results:
Ammonia- 2 ppm
Nitrite-0 ppm
NitrATE- 20 ppm

Before I added the QuickStart the ammonia was STILL at 4 ppm yesterday night (11:00 PM)

[Discusdude7]

I think it was the quick start. These balls just aren't working for me I even tried squishing them up. Does anyone know what I did wrong?!?!?

[lipadj46]

I think it was the quick start. These balls just aren't working for me I even tried squishing them up. Does anyone know what I did wrong?!?!?

Not sure, I'm not sure what kind of bacterial strains the balls contain. I should have mine tomorrow and I'll experiment with them.

[Discusdude7]

Not sure, I'm not sure what kind of bacterial strains the balls contain. I should have mine tomorrow and I'll experiment with them.

Ok. Let me know if they work for you.