I'm new to the salty side and haven't had a FW aquarium in over 20 years. In my quest to learn this hobby and the science end of things with so many different ways of doing the same thing I was honestly really confused by all the different information everyone was "recommending". However last night I really feel like the light bulb turned on and I'm better understanding this tank cycle process but I also am not naive to think I fully understand everything 100% yet.
Things that confused me in the start....
- Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride... It won't register on an API test kit after adding it to your aquarium like adding Ace Hardware ammonia will. I never knew if what I was adding was the right amount to get to 2-3ppm. It was guess work on my part and not seeing my test kit "work" made me doubt my test kit as well as the Dr Tims product.
- Dr Tims one and only... The directions on the bottle say to keep it refrigerated which I was assuming was to keep the bacteria alive. I was not able to purchase locally so I ordered from Amazon. My bottle shipped for 7 days non-refrigerated in the summer from California to Pennsylvania. I also don't know if it was refrigerated prior to that so I didn't trust that it helped and seeded the bacteria I was looking for.
- with doubting both dr Tims products, I opted to use shrimp to start my cycle AND introduce bacteria to the tank. I kept the shrimp in the tank for two full weeks and 95% decayed until I pulled it out a day ago. I liked the shrimp method because I could see the results on my test kit and follow the cycle along its journey as well as know that the shrimp was adding the bacteria I wanted.
I agree at this point my cycle is not 100% complete and I definitely want to build up my bioload more prior to introducing anything to the tank. I do however understand now better the difference between using a shrimp and using Ace Hardware ammonia + a bacterial source. I agree that the Ace Hardware ammonia is easily a more controlled approach regarding controlling the dose of ammonia in relation to the amount of water in the tank itself. Since I have removed the shrimp I will be moving to using the Ace Hardware to dose to 2ppm until the ammonia and nitrites reach zero in a 24 hour period.
My dilemma I face is coralline ... I want to seed my display now so I went to That Pet Place yesterday seeking a piece of live rock with some on that I could scrape at home to introduce... To my surprise they don't have any live rock with coralline in their tanks. The only option I had was hermit crabs with coralline covered shells (small hermits). At $0.99 a piece I bought 5. I've been seeding a sponge for my 10 gallon QT these last two weeks in my sump area of my Biocube so last night I mixed up a new batch of salt and setup the QT and put the hermits in the QT until I'm done dosing ammonia in my display. I'll maintain water changes in the QT to keep water quality stable for the next week or two.
Brandon I'm not sure what you mean by "you have the option of going full zero ammonia"? Can you elaborate?
Things that confused me in the start....
- Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride... It won't register on an API test kit after adding it to your aquarium like adding Ace Hardware ammonia will. I never knew if what I was adding was the right amount to get to 2-3ppm. It was guess work on my part and not seeing my test kit "work" made me doubt my test kit as well as the Dr Tims product.
- Dr Tims one and only... The directions on the bottle say to keep it refrigerated which I was assuming was to keep the bacteria alive. I was not able to purchase locally so I ordered from Amazon. My bottle shipped for 7 days non-refrigerated in the summer from California to Pennsylvania. I also don't know if it was refrigerated prior to that so I didn't trust that it helped and seeded the bacteria I was looking for.
- with doubting both dr Tims products, I opted to use shrimp to start my cycle AND introduce bacteria to the tank. I kept the shrimp in the tank for two full weeks and 95% decayed until I pulled it out a day ago. I liked the shrimp method because I could see the results on my test kit and follow the cycle along its journey as well as know that the shrimp was adding the bacteria I wanted.
I agree at this point my cycle is not 100% complete and I definitely want to build up my bioload more prior to introducing anything to the tank. I do however understand now better the difference between using a shrimp and using Ace Hardware ammonia + a bacterial source. I agree that the Ace Hardware ammonia is easily a more controlled approach regarding controlling the dose of ammonia in relation to the amount of water in the tank itself. Since I have removed the shrimp I will be moving to using the Ace Hardware to dose to 2ppm until the ammonia and nitrites reach zero in a 24 hour period.
My dilemma I face is coralline ... I want to seed my display now so I went to That Pet Place yesterday seeking a piece of live rock with some on that I could scrape at home to introduce... To my surprise they don't have any live rock with coralline in their tanks. The only option I had was hermit crabs with coralline covered shells (small hermits). At $0.99 a piece I bought 5. I've been seeding a sponge for my 10 gallon QT these last two weeks in my sump area of my Biocube so last night I mixed up a new batch of salt and setup the QT and put the hermits in the QT until I'm done dosing ammonia in my display. I'll maintain water changes in the QT to keep water quality stable for the next week or two.
Brandon I'm not sure what you mean by "you have the option of going full zero ammonia"? Can you elaborate?