On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 09:58:09 GMT, "soup"
wrote:


Have googled for aquarium cycling and there seems
to be 301,000 different opinions on how to do it.
A straw poll, how many believe in the chemical
approach and how many in hardy fish and does
anyone have a method involving black cats and
ouija boards ?.

As I understand it "cycling" is too get the level
of good bacteria up so they can "eat" fish waste
and convert it into nitrites then convert these
nitrites to nitrates.

I am the voice of "don't add chemicals if possible." I have 5 tanks
ranging from 10 to 75 gallons. I always start with 3 to 5 fish. I
also add plants because I have a ready surplus in my existing tanks.
The "cloudy" phase lasts for weeks. I always feel great relief when
the water clears. I do change water 20% twice weekly, but I do not
treat the new water except to bring the new water close to the tank
temperature. Not only do I not trust the chemicals, I distrust me to
administer them properly. I killed several fish and burned several
more adjusting the pH. That was almost 2 years ago, I never figured
what I did wrong, but it made my mind up, I am more dangerous than my
tap water is.

dick