So basically the cycle usually past ammonia and halfway through nitrites when I throw him in......
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I test water first of course, I dont just dump them in. I add buffer, trace elements, etc. I might have left that out, and sounded like an animal torture (lol) but I wouldnt dump any fish in unless the params at least looked good. You can never be entirely sure the water is safe, you would rather put a canary in the mine first, or a damsel before a $500 tang, right? Im just saying that it is much better to run the small risk if death with a four dollar fish that is a real b$&$@ in the long run than a fish you know and have had for years.
I have never lost a fish during a cycle, like I said, I wait at least 2 weeks to a month before adding the fish. That whole time Iam running carbon and biological filtration. If that doesnt have the cycle ready to be kickstarted (the biomedia comes from a mature tank) than nothing will. I check params the whole time daily, and if the the ammonia rises above .5 ppm I assure you the damsel is temporarily removed. They are hardier fish than people give them credit. How else can you know a tank is safe before adding a fish? I dont want to put in a clownfish pair and hundreds in coral to find out that something that cannot be tested for killed my prized sensitive coral. With a damsel you can see this early and do everything in your power to fix it. For example, white flashes infidicating stress, or piping. If this occurs I remove the damsel and put him in my fuge. I then run double carbon and perform a 50% wc, and wait a few days before he goes back in. Im not just throwing a fish in to see if he dies, although that can happen, but it very rarely does. I dont purposly aim to kill a fish to cycle a tank. And I dont see anyone opposing feeder fish. You feed a fish to another knowing it will die, or you have the fish cycle a tank, running the small risk of death. I have never heard of a different method that works as well. If you can give me one that I can trust on a $500 fish, then I would like to hear it, really, Im open to suggestions, but adding a "canary" first is one of the best working methods that I have heard of, although slightly enethical.
So basically the cycle usually past ammonia and halfway through nitrites when I throw him in......
One of the things on cycles most don't IMHO seem to understand is that the dangerous ammonia and nitrIte spikes are not necessary.
If you setup the tank with plenty of plant life (FW plants Salt macro algaes even corraline algae) and let that life get established and thriving, there will be no ammonia nor nitrIte spikes when fish are first added.
What I do is after a week of plants I add a very low bioload like only a couple of male fish. the don't add food for a week. And finally add a female and start feeding a single flake per fish per day. (can be done with mollys on saltwater).
There are no ammonia nor nitrIte spikes and the fish never are stressed in anyway.
just my .02
One of the things on cycles most don't IMHO seem to understand is that the dangerous ammonia and nitrIte spikes are not necessary.
If you setup the tank with plenty of plant life (FW plants Salt macro algaes even corraline algae) and let that life get established and thriving, there will be no ammonia nor nitrIte spikes when fish are first added.
What I do is after a week of plants I add a very low bioload like only a couple of male fish. the don't add food for a week. And finally add a female and start feeding a single flake per fish per day. (can be done with mollys on saltwater).
There are no ammonia nor nitrIte spikes and the fish never are stressed in anyway.
just my .02
It slows down the cycle and would make it start
Over....
Fwiw the worst thing you can do is change the water while the tank is cycling... Let it run it's course after a complete cycle do a wc.
What do you mean by seed rockHere's my recipe that has worked for me on numerous occasions:
1. Rock (live or dead)
2. 1-2 prawns (let it decompose and supply the ammonia source)
3. Seed rock (if you are using dead rock)
After 2-3 weeks., all cycled!