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Senior Member
 
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Last Login: 12/21/2008 5:39:34 AM
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| I have read several posts/comments regarding the use of these products over these few weeks and I know David claims that they do work. David I know you wrote an article in FAMA about this but I did not have a chance to read it yet. I was wondering what everyone's thought's were about these products and if anyone would like to share any success stories using it. I was thinking about trying it for myself in a small tank just to see if it works myself. What brands are known to be the most reliable? I myself have always used media from another tank or I used fishless cycle method with Hailey's help (BTW where is she these days?) This method would be a first for me. David, which issue is your article in about the tests you conducted? I really would like read that article.
__________________________________________ 46 Gallon Tank Planted-1 Female German Ram-5 Gymnogeophagus Sp. Norte-6 Class N Endlers Black Bars (Pure Strain)-4 Otto Cats 25 Gallon Planted (High tech)- Two Bolivian Rams- 10 endlers/guppy cross 10 Gallon Tank Planted. (At the office)-6 Class N Endlers Black Bars (Pure Strain)
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Last Login: 12/27/2008 5:18:35 PM
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I have only ever used Cycle, but from that and reading various accounts in other places, my thoughts have always been that some do work, but you have to take into account that the bottled bacteria need to be kept refrigerated, and if they've been on the shelves for too long, your results could be extremely variable.
Even when stored and used properly, according to instruction, they don't "instantly" cycle your tank like many people think. They simply cut the cycling time down. It's exactly like seeding your tank from an existing tank.
20 gallon long
Lionhead - Kiko
Calico Lionhead - Little Bean
29 gallon
Fantail - Oliver
Black Moor - Damian
Calico Ryukin - Serafina
2.5 gallon
male betta - Pirate
10 gallon planted
minnow, betta, guppy
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| My experience is that the actual process of using bacterial starters is very successful. However, my experience also indicates that bacterial starters send the wrong message to beginners and even though their tank started out great, newbies who use them almost always wind up with disasters within a few months. Nonetheless, you're not a beginner. As such, go ahead and try them. My personal suggestion would be to buy an ammonia source so that you can test to see that they are working, though, as blindly trusting them can lead to variable results (as princess indicated). MOA
"Tears aren't a sign of weakness, they're a sign of poor plumbing." --Dead Men's Lies
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Senior Member
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Last Login: 12/21/2008 5:39:34 AM
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| good advice, thank you both. I'm going to give this a try today and monitor it's progression. I've always thought that these products simply did not work. If doing a fishless cycle with a bacteria source from a bottle is as fast as seeding a tank with media from another tank then, I would consider this a better method to cycle a tank then seeding. I would rather cycle a tank this way then take a chance of disturbing the nitrogen cycle from another tank or transferring something undesirable from the old tank to the new one.
__________________________________________ 46 Gallon Tank Planted-1 Female German Ram-5 Gymnogeophagus Sp. Norte-6 Class N Endlers Black Bars (Pure Strain)-4 Otto Cats 25 Gallon Planted (High tech)- Two Bolivian Rams- 10 endlers/guppy cross 10 Gallon Tank Planted. (At the office)-6 Class N Endlers Black Bars (Pure Strain)
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