Is Cycle necessary with each water change?

[mcmillanm]

Hi, I do 20-25% water changes twice a week and have been adding prime and cycle each time and flourish & leaf zone once a week for the plants in my 180L tank.

Using Cycle each time is working out quite expensive and I've been wondering if I need to add it EVERY time. I'm happy to use Prime each time as it's such a little amount and it does so much re chlorine and nitrates etc.

I live in Auckland and do water changes twice a week as tanks are still a little overstocked & I have some gauze like material over uptake filter to stop babies getting sucked up and because I get leaf matter etc collecting on and around filter uptake.

Thanks for your thoughts/ideas.

[#!CrunchBang]

You only need to treat the new water for chlorine with something like stresscoat or prime as long as the tank has done the initial cycle.

[Squirt]

+1 yeah once your tank is cycled, you do not need to add cycle. :thup:

[ally07]

Agree - don't buy into the petshop scams lol. If your tank is cycled, just let nature take its course. By adding more Cycle every water change, it lessens the amount of ammonia that the bacteria colonies feed on but it could also lead to bacteria colonies dying off (due to lack of ammonia) and that can cause cloudiness in the water. Just let the existing bacteria colonies work their magic.

[David R]

Certainly no need to add cycle, and the necessity of using prime is debatable. I use it at about half strength for my water changes (add 200L of treated and preheated water from a barrel along with 200L straight from the tap).

[mcmillanm]

Cheers everyone.

I wish I knew about this website a year or so ago when I was just starting out - would have saved myself some $$$

I only just suspected this may be the case when I went to use my new bottle and realised it was out of date. When I rang the petshop to tell them I asked if it would matter if I missed it this once as I couldn't get down there today and she replied 'not at all'...

Live and learn LOL!

[IHBR]

I actually started using cycle, not to cycle the the water, but to reduce the build up in my external filters tubing. And it does the trick. So I keep using it with most of my water changes.

[Squirt]

Pretty expensive to keep the filter tubes clean :facepalm: especially when it only takes 5 minutes to take the filter pipes and clean them with a brush and a cloth...

[Ira]

I don't remember ever needing to remove my filter pipes to clean them.

[Squirt]

I get some kind of brown build up inside mine, could be algae or BB build up?

[b16a2]

cycle contains food for the bacteria to live on, so by adding it to your tank it can actually cause a rise in ammonia levels. but assuming your tank is already cycled then you shouldnt need it, could always use stability as the bacteria becomes live once its in contact with the water.

[amtiskaw]

I get some kind of brown build up inside mine, could be algae or BB build up?

I don't think it's algae cos I get it in opaque tubing as well as transparent. Nitrifying bacteria maybe?

[IHBR]

Pretty expensive to keep the filter tubes clean

It doesn't really work out that expensive for me, (a few cents a day). Maybe if you compared it to the ongoing cost compared to time and a bottle brush I suppose