Is this a cycling product?

seaofbytes

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Hey guys, I just started cycling my tank in a bucket. I got a piece of live rock to seed it, but also got this:


"EasyStart is a unique combination with highly active bacterial cultures. The unique bacterial carrier ensures an accelerated multiplication of useful bacteria, so that the formation of, among other things, the toxic nitrite can be avoided. It also helps to counteract the action of harmful bacteria and purifies the water of heavy metals and other chemical contaminants. The result is a healthy aquarium with vital, intensively coloring fish."

I was wondering if this is a cycle starting product, I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what this is. The instructions say to add 5ml/20g of water on day 1, 7, and 14.

I put in 20ml of this yesterday, along with a bunch of fish food. This morning I did my first ammonia test and it is at 0.25, which I think is a bit weird, because I spilled a little too much food in my cycle bucket.


Any help would be greatly appreciated, I keep googling and overthinking everything haha. Cheers!!!
 
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seaofbytes

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They claim it is, but my problem is.....

Nitrosomonas bacteria(the bacteria we need for cycling), are not the same in FW as they are in SW. So a bottle claiming to work for both sounds like BS to me.
Thanks for the reply. I'm unfortunately still learning stuff like this, so every little thing helps. Hopefully it works.. :/
 
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seaofbytes

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It may work.....

FW bacteria can be used in brackish water, so it may "jump start" the cycle.
Well I hope so :p

Also, isn't my ammonia too low after 24h? I put in a fair amount of fish food by accident, I can def smell it in the water after degrading...but the ammonia test reads 0.25ppm. Using salifert to test, water temp 77, salinity is 25.
 

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It takes a little while for the food to breakdown into ammonia.

While ghost feeding works, it's not very efficient, nor predictable(never know how much food to add to reach a predetermined ammonia amount). Just using pure ammonia is way easier, and more predictable.

If you dumped food in there, just wait it out. It may take a couple days for the food to break down into ammonia.
 
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It takes a little while for the food to breakdown into ammonia.

While ghost feeding works, it's not very efficient, nor predictable(never know how much food to add to reach a predetermined ammonia amount). Just using pure ammonia is way easier, and more predictable.

If you dumped food in there, just wait it out. It may take a couple days for the food to break down into ammonia.
Yeah, we'll see what happens. Just got home from work, did a test for ammonia.

Kind of looks like 0.5 in person, but I'm not 100%

IMG_20220511_181802.jpg IMG_20220511_181920.jpg
 
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seaofbytes

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Ok, ammonia seems like 0.5. I also did a test for nitrates...looks like they are around 15 in person after a few min.


Can anyone shed some light into what is going on, and if I should do something or just let it be?

Thanks!
 

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Hey guys, I just started cycling my tank in a bucket. I got a piece of live rock to seed it, but also got this:


"EasyStart is a unique combination with highly active bacterial cultures. The unique bacterial carrier ensures an accelerated multiplication of useful bacteria, so that the formation of, among other things, the toxic nitrite can be avoided. It also helps to counteract the action of harmful bacteria and purifies the water of heavy metals and other chemical contaminants. The result is a healthy aquarium with vital, intensively coloring fish."

I was wondering if this is a cycle starting product, I can't seem to put my finger on exactly what this is. The instructions say to add 5ml/20g of water on day 1, 7, and 14.

I put in 20ml of this yesterday, along with a bunch of fish food. This morning I did my first ammonia test and it is at 0.25, which I think is a bit weird, because I spilled a little too much food in my cycle bucket.


Any help would be greatly appreciated, I keep googling and overthinking everything haha. Cheers!!!
The best bacterial products I know of are: Fritz, Dr. Tims, and Microbactr.

I think that product is for freshwater
 
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The best bacterial products I know of are: Fritz, Dr. Tims, and Microbactr.

I think that product is for freshwater
It says saltwater on the bottle. All of the above I tried to get, but couldn't without huge shipping costs. I got nitrates, so I guess it's doing something?
 
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Looks like it, if nitrates are showing up than the tank is cycling.
Yup just measured around 10-15 on day 2, there's a picture in the post above. My readings could be sketch. So all is well, that's nice to hear.
 
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The nitrite test showed 0. I can redo the tests now and post pictures of you could explain to me exactly what is going on haha?
 
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Any presence of nitrites, will show as high nitrates.
The tests now show:
Nh3 - 0.25 ( I ghost fed twice, yesterday and today)
No3 - 12.5
No2 - 1.0

I'm cycling in a huge bucket, and there is a piece of live rock curing with the rocks. I also added the starting bacteria in there, as I got the rock from a buddy a few hours later as a surprise...so I just dumped it in there as well.


So...to me it looks like everything is going well? My idea is that the nitrates dropped from the previous testing, and as a result no2 went from 0 to 1. The live rock probably had a big role in that, that's my theory anyways, I don't really have the knowledge to say.

Salifert tests.

Cheers :)

Thanks!
 

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FWIW.....

Nitrites in the levels we see in normal cycling aquariums, is non toxic to marine fish.

Really all were looking for in a marine cycle is, a rise in ammonia, then a decline to 0(or very close to 0 if using API).

I am super old school, and from a FW background, so I personally still cycle a tank the old school way. But am very familiar with using bottled bac, and the "new school" of cycling too.

Old school cycling(minus the fish, how we used to do it), is to add ammonia(ghost feed, pure ammonia, frozen shrimp, etc) till you get a reading of no more then 2ppm. Wait for it to come down to 0, measure nitrites(forget nitrates for now). As nitrites climb, and ammonia 0's out, you wait. Once nitrites go to 0, you should have a decent amount of nitrates. Add ammonia back up to 2ppm and see if it clears to nitrates in 24 hours. If it does, then your cycle is complete, if it does not, you wait till it does, then your complete.

Now you would do a very large water change(as close to 100% as you can get) to get rid of the high nitrates. Then slowly add your livestock starting with a small CUC.

The way I have always done it, and the way I know it works 100%. Maybe not right to some, or something in my process may seem wrong, but I know it works 100% of the time.
 
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seaofbytes

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FWIW.....

Nitrites in the levels we see in normal cycling aquariums, is non toxic to marine fish.

Really all were looking for in a marine cycle is, a rise in ammonia, then a decline to 0(or very close to 0 if using API).

I am super old school, and from a FW background, so I personally still cycle a tank the old school way. But am very familiar with using bottled bac, and the "new school" of cycling too.

Old school cycling(minus the fish, how we used to do it), is to add ammonia(ghost feed, pure ammonia, frozen shrimp, etc) till you get a reading of no more then 2ppm. Wait for it to come down to 0, measure nitrites(forget nitrates for now). As nitrites climb, and ammonia 0's out, you wait. Once nitrites go to 0, you should have a decent amount of nitrates. Add ammonia back up to 2ppm and see if it clears to nitrates in 24 hours. If it does, then your cycle is complete, if it does not, you wait till it does, then your complete.

Now you would do a very large water change(as close to 100% as you can get) to get rid of the high nitrates. Then slowly add your livestock starting with a small CUC.

The way I have always done it, and the way I know it works 100%. Maybe not right to some, or something in my process may seem wrong, but I know it works 100% of the time.
It's worth a lot to me. I appreciate you taking the time to try and explain everything to me.

I have a picture of how the cycle works, but I was curious about the details. It seems to me that I am using a mix of old/new school cycling style. I plan to leave it in the bucket for about a month before moving it to my tank which will allow me to basically do a 100% water change. I will be taking a vacation soon and I hope it will be ready when I get back ( I'll have someone check a few times while I'm away).

Seems to me like ammonia is slowly creeping up, looking forward to testing it when I get home. Thanks @homer1475 .
 
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seaofbytes

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It's worth a lot to me. I appreciate you taking the time to try and explain everything to me.

I have a picture of how the cycle works, but I was curious about the details. It seems to me that I am using a mix of old/new school cycling style. I plan to leave it in the bucket for about a month before moving it to my tank which will allow me to basically do a 100% water change. I will be taking a vacation soon and I hope it will be ready when I get back ( I'll have someone check a few times while I'm away).

Seems to me like ammonia is slowly creeping up, looking forward to testing it when I get home. Thanks @homer1475 .
Small update!


I left the tank alone yesterday, skipped ghost feeding because I really overfed the two days before.

My tests today show:
Ammonia 1.5-2
Nitrite 25-35


Nitrite seems a bit high...I guess that's the result of overfeeding? I should probably let it go down to 0 before adding more ammonia?

Should I just let the nitrates sort itself out or do would you recommend a wc since they seem a bit on the high side?
 

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