Suggestions for proprietary cycle starter

[MickO'S]

Any companies making a great bacteria cycle starter ??
Starting a new 650l aquarium and sump and want to do it clean, ie not seeded from my ouher aquarium.
Mick

[Paul Sabucchi]

I would put two of Evolution Aqua's Pure Aquarium Bomb in the sump and add plain (unscented) ammonia in the tank water until it reaches a concentration of 2-4 mg/l
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Evolution-Aqua-Pure-Aquarium-Bomb/dp/B06VVKH31Z/ref=pd_gwm_simh_0?pf_rd_s=blackjack-personal-1&pf_rd_t=Gateway&pf_rd_i=mobile&pf_rd_m=A3P5ROKL5A1OLE&pd_rd_wg=tHrSl&pd_rd_r=X7HAMBJXGT2GBX7RXPZJ&pd_rd_w=CZFPq&pf_rd_r=X7HAMBJXGT2GBX7RXPZJ&pf_rd_p=65b7e0dd-f899-4e87-9d0f-a0838e16bb6c&pd_rd_i=B06VVKH31Z

[Swedgin]

I have done the Seachem Stabilty/Prime way a few times, always worked.

[Second Hand Pat]

At this years NADA Discus show one of the speakers was Dr. Steven Smith (fish doctor) and he recommended Fritzyme and you can get it here https://www.baybridgeaquarium.com/collections/bacteria.
Pat

[Paul Sabucchi]

Good to know, suppose he meant Fritzzyme 7, although our side of the pond it is probably easier to get it from the UK on fleabay

[Second Hand Pat]

Good to know, suppose he meant Fritzzyme 7, although our side of the pond it is probably easier to get it from the UK on fleabay

Yes, definitely get the freshwater version.
Pat

[Pices]

I used Fritzyme 7 on my 75 gal. My lfs guy reported excellent results himself and customer feedback. But since I tend to over do things, I also got a sponge from the seller. He likes it better than stability. That’s a good price for it Pat. I think I paid a lot more.
Patty

[Tshethar]

Honestly, I wish I could tell you that they all work fabulously for an instant cycle, but not so much for me, although I am using them with fish and changing lots of water at the same time, which undoubtedly complicates things. Have now tried the FritzZyme 7 and the Seachem Stability, and still waiting for ammonia to drop and nitrates to show after almost three weeks. Most likely will help you get the job done in less than the usual 4-6 weeks, especially if you wait on fish, but your mileage may vary! Still, if it doesn't work for whatever reason to establish the tank before adding fish, it is possible to mitigate the toxicity with Prime/Safe, as Tobi alludes to.

[MickO'S]

Thanks loads for the responses 👍
All the info is so helpful to get me up and going!!
I have seachem stability available in my lfs and the fritzzme 7 on eBay with quick delivery! Am going to do lots of research on both and see which one I’m going to use. I’ll come back for a chat to say why I choose the one I do, ye can tell me what ye think of my choice:)

Mick

[MickO'S]

How about throwing a prawn into a bag in the sump to start things off before I add whatever cycle starter I decided on !
Mick

[Paul Sabucchi]

Save yourself the mess and get some ammonia, you will need it anyway. What have you got in the way of test kits?

[MickO'S]

Will do Paul !

Only ph test kit so far to get the balance between ro and tap water to get to about a ph of 7 or so. So far it’s looking about 1 third aged tap water to 2 thirds ro to get a stable ph that won’t crash. That’s pretty much dialled in now.

As for the rest of the kits I’ll get them the weekend for my cycling beginning:)
What suggestions for kits does anybody have ?

Mick

[Paul Sabucchi]

Value for money, particularly while cycling the tank when you will be testing daily you could do a lot worse than the API freshwater master kit. The bottles hold twice as much reagents. Only issue (I think it is still the case) is the NO3 test, where you have to shake the $#!+ out of the bottles as the substances can precipitate (so it will give falsely low results to start and falsely high at the end). Some people even stick the bottles on the airpump with a rubber band so the vibrations will keep it constantly shaken! When Practical Fishkeeping did a review 2-3 years ago also the NT labs combo was good value. Personally I use Sera for most tests, JBL for pH as it has separate and more sensitive tests for low and high pH. Other brands like Salifert are also good but less commonly used in Europe, even more so Hach and LaMotte

[Second Hand Pat]

Mick, be sure to get ammonia without surfactants. Generally best to get pure ammonia at a hardware store.
Pat

[JamesW]

I can second the API master test kit and if you are messing with RO/Tap mixtures you probably want to pay attention to GH/KH so the API GH/KH test kit is useful as well as a TDS meter.

For cycle starter I used tetra safe start and ammonia. Don't change water during this time and keep all the measurements on-scale, dosing too much will shut the bacteria down and doing WC's is removing the growth stimulus you have for your bacterial filter.

[Paul Sabucchi]

If local stores fail...
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Kleen-Off-500ml-Ammonia/product-reviews/B00755MEMA

[MickO'S]

Ok well that’s a a difficulty 😂

No pure ammonia to be got in little Ireland ! Even the pharmacy does not have a listing for it with any of his suppliers! Rang the local hardware store and a few of the larger ones and none had it!
Even one or two very suspicious sales people 😂 can it be used for anything else I don’t know about??😂😂😱
Mick

[MickO'S]

Paul as always you are way ahead of me solving my problems before I even knew I had them 😂😂
Mick

[MickO'S]

[QUOTE=JamesW;1296226]I can second the API master test kit and if you are messing with RO/Tap mixtures you probably want to pay attention to GH/KH so the API GH/KH test kit is useful as well as a TDS meter.

I have an in line tds meter on my ro unit so will use that as a Td’s check, great idea 💡 thanks mate.

I’ll get the api test kit and go with that so

Mick

[Paul Sabucchi]

Been there, done it and all the rest...

[MickO'S]

I got that ammonia from Amazon, should be here by Monday and I can start dosing!

I assume I still go with the cycle starter ??

Mick

[Paul Sabucchi]

Absolutely, adding bacteria should shorten the time it takes to cycle. You may have some milkyness developing as the bacteria initially multiply. I normally dose the ammonia quite heavy aiming for about 4 mg/l, keep it there untill nitrites start to climb steadily then I dial it back to about 2 mg/l untill the nitrites too disappear overnight, I may then bump it up again and finally do a next to complete water change one or two days before the fish go in

[Paul Sabucchi]

Forgot to say, if you are going to have plants in the sump you might as well go for really fast growing plants, either floating (like water lettuce -Pistia- or water hyacinth -Eichhornia- if you can still get them with the new EU ban on potentially invasive plants) or emergent (I only have the outdoor ones for my tub-ponds, water mint grows prodigiously, smells as advertised and goes well with Sunday lamb roast, I also have bogbean and marsh marigold). The faster they grow the quicker they are removing waste substances from the water, making the most of the CO2 and light that are more abundant above the surface. Just give them a good haircut as they grow. All the above emergent plants will do well planted in a basket with no soil, just plain media like alfagrog or similar (so you are actually putting more biomedia in)