Query re using "Cycle" (by Nutrafin)

[heni]

Hi All,

This is probably a stupid question, but here goes ....

Our freshwater tropical tank has been going now for about six weeks - and seems pretty healthy, we have many fry (guppies & platties) and all fish are thriving, we check our ammonia and PH and change 10% of water weekly.

Do we need to keep using that commerical "cycle" stuff each week as well, or is our tank sort of self-regulating now, cycle-wise?

We purchased a new smaller tank this weekend to put our babies into - a bit of a population explosion going on here atm. (37Litres for the new one). This question could be a really ignorant one, so apologies if it's set you all laughing. :-) But I just HAD to ask it.

Cheers

Heni (in Dunedin)

[livebearer_breeder]

It all depends on the qaulity and Chlorine content of your tap water, IMO id stay on the safe side and alway treat the water, the only tank i do not use treated water on is my Convict tank, and thats mainly because they seem to e the hardiest fish i have ever owened, and the new cold chlorinated water seems to kick them into breeding mode.

Shae

[Alan]

Nope

Throw away the commerical "cycle" stuff, IMHO it does absolutely nothing except maybe provide ammonia content to the water, not "live bacteria".

Your fish are now doing that job and if the tank has cycled, it will continue to do sol as long as the filtration syatem doesn't crash.

I always squirt my tap water HARD into the storage containers, thereby releasing most of the chlorine from it, but after three days there is near enough to nothing present.

Just make sure your temps are close to one another when adding your water change though.

Alan 104

[DiverJohn]

Hi Alan,

Just on the Chlorine.... Apparently Chloroamine is more common and much more stable than chlorine. Does the sitting for 3 days remove chloroamine?

John

[livebearer_breeder]

I was not talking about StressZyme, which adds healthy bacteria to kick off a new Tank, I was talking about DeChlorinaters Alan, And They do deffinatly do more than Nothing.

Shae

[doodle]

I believe the question asked was about "Cycle".... Cycle is the partner in crime of AquaPlus. Aquaplus is the chlorine remover, Cycle is the "bacterial additive" Same sort of thing as StressCoat and StressZyme. A dechlorinater and a bacterial additive.

[misnoma]

I find that the $3 bottles of water ager work just fine to remove chlorine from Auckland water - last for ages too. I used to use more expensive "brand name" stuff but found the cheap stuff doesn't seem to kill the fish

That's the one thing I add in terms of that, once a tank is cycled

[heni]

Hmmm, yep I was more wondering about "cycle" the stuff that "releases massive amounts of beneficial bacteria" into the aquarium. :-) The comments re removing chlorine have been useful, too, however.

Heni

[Snowman]

I use the cheapest stuff of all ....... tap water, no additives, been using straight tap water for 6 months now and the fish don't mind at all, the GBA still pop out eggs every 3 weeks and the last 3 lots of fry have all survived, i was doing water changes every second day using stress coat and was loosing 50% of the fry, they get no stress coat or chlorine remover now with weekly water changes and 100% survival (go figure ), i use a small squirt of Stress Zyme when i do a filter clean (i wash the sponges under the cold tap) and Ammonia and Nitrite is always 0

Maybe i'm just lucky but it works so i'm going to stick with it.

[livebearer_breeder]

It makes sence Snowman, GBA fry dont respond well to change, too many water changes and to much chemicals would have resulted in an unstable enviroment that would have caused most of the death. I do agree though the cycle is not needed for a cycled tank, However Chlorine is another story. Especially Auckland water.

Shae

[cees]

Hi Alan,

Just on the Chlorine.... Apparently Chloroamine is more common and much more stable than chlorine. Does the sitting for 3 days remove chloroamine?

John

Correct my if I'm wrong but I don't think New Zealand uses chloramine.

Cees

[Snowman]

I would have thought the same Shae, haven't tested the water for chlorine levels but the GBA, swords, guppies, angels, rams, standard b/nose, clown loaches, angelicous loaches, striata loaches, queen loaches and yo-yo loaches never show any reaction to it.

Wish my luck extended to lotto...

[Alan]

You don't need correcting Cees.

You are correct, and any indication that our "leaders" wish to pollute our water supply with this additive should be stongly resisted.

Alan 104

[DiverJohn]

Great thanks Cees and Alan

Didnt evn consider it might not be used @ all. Must be popular overseas tho...

[deeveus]

I used stress zyme to setup new fresh tropicals but never bother with it after the tank has cycled. Only chemical I use for my community fresh tank is that Aqua plus - tap water conditioner and add the correct amount upon a 10% weekly water change, and have never had any major problems, only with new fish once or twice but that could of been shock due to a new tank environment. However no problems for atleast 6 months.

[Caryl]

I never add anything to my tank in the way of chemicals if at all possible. They are not needed if a tank is set up correctly (except for water ager for those unfortunate enough to live in areas using chlorine).

[jude]

Hi Heni

Ira tells me the only stupid questions are:

the ones you don't ask and mine

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

Cheers

Jude

[cookie extreme]

what's difference??

Just on the Chlorine.... Apparently Chloroamine is more common and much more stable than chlorine. Does the sitting for 3 days remove chloroamine?

[Caryl]

Chlorine is used in water to make it safe to drink. It is used in many products today as well. Chloramine is a combination of chlorine and ammonia and is more stable than chlorine so many countries have started using it instead of chlorine to purify their water systems.

Chlorine is unstable, easily dissipated in water, and has that awful smell whereas chloramine is more stable and doesn't dissipate in water so easily. It also isn't as good at killing micro-organisms so more needs to be used.

The problem is, the same chemicals which keep humans safe can be toxic to fish. Not only can chlorine or chloramine kill fish, it also kills the beneficial bacteria in the aquarium filters.