Cycling - Lost Patience

After three weeks, and I lost count of how many water changes, I finally
gave up on the traditional cycling routine. My poor fish have been suffering
long enough in the Nitrite AND Nitrate rich tank. Made the trip down to a
well supplied aquarium store. The Lady I talked to seemed very knowledgable.
She said that my tank was most likely crashing against itself. Her reasoning
seemed logical, so I decided on a whole new aproach.
I bought a whole new filter system with larger pump, bio wheel attachment,
gravel filter and interchangeable filters (micron, carbon, DE etc). Also
bought a packet of Bio Spira. I like to be traditional in most things, but
science does not lie. I read the scientific papers, evaluated the
processes, and after several days of reading, decided to take the plunge
with my money.
I spent the whole day cleaning up the old undergravel remains, stripped
the whole tank down but kept the water. I don't know if that was a good
move or not, but time will tell. I know I had some of the good bacteria
growing, but not enough. The bad bugs seemed to be getting all the oxygen.
I'll let you know how this goes. I'm hoping it all balances out in a few
days. Sharky and Face are hanging tough, but I'd prefer them to not have
to endure this routine. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to tear it
down again and do a COMPLETE do over. Time will tell!

--
With all due respect
Kevin

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 06:16:44 GMT, wrote:

After three weeks, and I lost count of how many water changes, I finally
gave up on the traditional cycling routine. My poor fish have been suffering
long enough in the Nitrite AND Nitrate rich tank. Made the trip down to a
well supplied aquarium store. The Lady I talked to seemed very knowledgable.
She said that my tank was most likely crashing against itself. Her reasoning
seemed logical, so I decided on a whole new aproach.
I bought a whole new filter system with larger pump, bio wheel attachment,
gravel filter and interchangeable filters (micron, carbon, DE etc). Also
bought a packet of Bio Spira. I like to be traditional in most things, but
science does not lie. I read the scientific papers, evaluated the
processes, and after several days of reading, decided to take the plunge
with my money.
I spent the whole day cleaning up the old undergravel remains, stripped
the whole tank down but kept the water. I don't know if that was a good
move or not, but time will tell. I know I had some of the good bacteria
growing, but not enough. The bad bugs seemed to be getting all the oxygen.
I'll let you know how this goes. I'm hoping it all balances out in a few
days. Sharky and Face are hanging tough, but I'd prefer them to not have
to endure this routine. If this doesn't work out, I'm going to tear it
down again and do a COMPLETE do over. Time will tell!


throw in a handful of egeria. It eats ammonia.

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind once I get a heavier load on the
tank. The bugs are taking care of the Amonia so far. Just seams to have
gotten stuck at the nitrite to nitrate stage.

--
With all due respect
Kevin

On Sun, 11 Dec 2005 06:50:44 GMT, wrote:

Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind once I get a heavier load on the
tank. The bugs are taking care of the Amonia so far. Just seams to have
gotten stuck at the nitrite to nitrate stage.


If I remember right, at three weeks that's about where you should be.
I don't cycle, I use plants, algae and others.

If your pet store sells STABILITY, I recommend it wholeheartedly. It
has saved me twice in the past two years!

n


wrote:
Thanks for the tip. I'll keep that in mind once I get a heavier load on the
tank. The bugs are taking care of the Amonia so far. Just seams to have
gotten stuck at the nitrite to nitrate stage.

Yippeeeeeeeee,
The tank finally made it through the initial cycle, and is now at zero
nitrites. I was beggining to think it would never happen. That Bio Spira
is worth every cent. Now all I need is a few water changes to get the
nitrates back down, and everything should be just fine.

--
With all due respect

wrote in message
...
Yippeeeeeeeee,
The tank finally made it through the initial cycle, and is now at zero
nitrites. I was beggining to think it would never happen. That Bio Spira
is worth every cent. Now all I need is a few water changes to get the
nitrates back down, and everything should be just fine.
================================
GOOD DEAL!!!! :-) I'm going to look for this product in my local stores
and mail-order aquarium catalogs.

BTW I bought 2 new ronchu (sp?) or lionheads this week. What an addiction
these fancy goldfish are.
--

Koi-Lo.... frugal ponding since 1995...
My Pond & Aquarium Pages:
http://bellsouthpwp.net/s/h/shastadaisy
~~~ }((((o ~~~ }{{{{o ~~~ }(((((o

Koi-lo wrote:

wrote in message
...

Yippeeeeeeeee,
The tank finally made it through the initial cycle, and is now at zero
nitrites. I was beggining to think it would never happen. That Bio Spira
is worth every cent. Now all I need is a few water changes to get the
nitrates back down, and everything should be just fine.

================================
GOOD DEAL!!!! :-) I'm going to look for this product in my local
stores and mail-order aquarium catalogs.

BTW I bought 2 new ronchu (sp?) or lionheads this week. What an
addiction these fancy goldfish are.

Why bother with bottled bacteria if you already have established
aquariums or ponds? Just use some filter media, mulm, etc from your
existing setups!

I can see Bio Spira etc perhaps being useful for one's very first aquarium.
Steve

Hi

Why bother with bottled bacteria if you already have
established aquariums or ponds? Just use some filter
media, mulm, etc from your existing setups!

If available.

I can see Bio Spira etc perhaps being useful for one's
very first aquarium.

But _many_ beginners start tanks in this way!

@ Koi-lo:

Please be so kind to tell us about your impressions using
BioSpira, thanks. At the moment it doesn't seem to be known
or available in Germany.

--
cu
Marco

Marco Schwarz wrote:
Hi


Why bother with bottled bacteria if you already have
established aquariums or ponds? Just use some filter
media, mulm, etc from your existing setups!


If available.


Yes, I believe Koi-lo has posted pictures of her ponds and talked of her
aquariums. So why would she bother with bottled bacteria?
Steve


I can see Bio Spira etc perhaps being useful for one's
very first aquarium.


But _many_ beginners start tanks in this way!

@ Koi-lo:

Please be so kind to tell us about your impressions using
BioSpira, thanks. At the moment it doesn't seem to be known
or available in Germany.