The difference between the two products is that API Quick Start can be used in both freshwater and saltwater aquariums whereas Tetra SafeStart can only be used in freshwater systems by design. These aquarium cycle starters also contain slightly different strains of bacteria, which affects how fast each product works.
Both Tetra Safe Start and API Quick Start will work, given that they are applied in a correct manner. The cycling of a new tank will speed up significantly but it won’t happen overnight.
Generally speaking, with proper use you can realistically expect to wait about 14 days to fully cycle a fish tank with API Quick Start. Tetra SafeStart takes about the same time although often it may finish the process in just 10 days. Dosage plays a major role in success.
Unfortunately, following the instructions on the back is not something that will help, as they are pretty vague.
After experimenting hard I’ve managed to highlight what strengthens your chance for success, eventually finding a process that, in my opinion, is foolproof.
I ran two tests on both before actually using them in a real fish tank project.
The only disappointing part is that they will not cycle your fish tank the same day.
Also, by the “add fish instantly” on the label they don’t mean all the fish the tank can hold but rather just a couple, until the beneficial bacteria settle.
Both API Quick Start and Tetra SafeStart can be added with live fish in the tank.
The bottles obviously don’t contain substrances harmful to fish, just the opposite.
How to use them and make them work?
After running a couple of tests I am confident to share my success formula with you.
Going through hundreds of forum threads and speaking with fishkeepers I know, I did find confirmations of my findings.
This means that my logic was correct.
Firstly you’d need to get the right bottle of bacteria.
Safe Start and Quick Start both contain live “inactivated” bacteria. By being inactivated like this the products last longer on the shelf and are easier to store, which makes them more beginner-friendly.
Both brands are claiming no refrigeration is needed.
The perfect temperature for the bacteria’s shelf and in-water life would be between 40°F and 80°F (5°C to 25°C).
Going beneath or above that range may spoil it, by killing the microorganisms and rendering the product useless.
Trusting your local fish store is okay, but I do prefer getting mine over at Amazon (link that will open in a new tab).
Anyway, if you do insist on getting the bottles from your local market make sure that they were safely stored and aim to get the most recently shipped ones (with the farthest expiration date).
Some instructions before you start are:
Get a bottle that has been manufactured as recently as possible – The newer the bottle, the better. Also, get at least two bottles, I will explain why later.
Choose a bottle meant for a larger aquarium than yours – For me, it worked best when I used the 3.38 Oz bottle of Tetra SafeStart Plus for my 20 gallons, and also when I doubled the dose recommended for the API Quick Start.
Make sure the ammonia is not already deadly high – everything above 2.5 ppm of ammonia will be harmful to your fish AND the bacteria. Before you start with the nitrogen cycle you need the ammonia lowered as much as possible.
With that out of the way, you can start cycling your aquarium.
If you’re cycling a 5-gallon tank it’s really best to put a source of ammonia in it and no live fish. Such source could be fish food.
Anyway, it’s technically true that you can stock the tank up, but you’d need very clean fish (ones that do not poop as much) and you’d have to feed them very carefully to either not overfeed (leaving extra ammonia work for your bacteria) or starve them (being too cautious not to overload your tank with ammonia).
Add another bottle of the product if that happens.
This is why I told you to get a second bottle.
However, there’s another solid reason behind this point.
You’re probably using chlorinated tap water for your fish tank. In order to perform a water change you’d need to dechlorinate the water first, right?
Water facilities in the more developed cities use Chloramine instead of Chlorine for disinfection.
Chloramine represents the chemical bond between chlorine + ammonia.
Seachem Prime (a commonly used dechlorinator), for example, breaks down chloramine to chlorine and ammonia, takes care of the chlorine, and detoxifies the released ammonia. Every product that claims to detoxify ammonia likely transforms it into ammoniUum Ammonium is harmless to bacteria and fish alike, but the detoxifying effect only lasts for 24 to 48 hours if your tank’s pH is above 7.0. This does not mean that having more than 7.0 pH is bad, it just means that using ammonia detoxifiers in a non-cycled tank is not a good long-term solution.
Anyway, after that, the ammonium turns back into ammonia, which means you now have more of the latter in the cycling aquarium.
The more Chloramine your water facility uses, the more the released ammonia after the effect of the detoxifier expires. This could consequently harm your bacterial biofilter and fish if the contents turn out to be too high for the bacteria to handle in time.
Author’s note: This only affects new aquariums that do not have an established colony of nitrifying bacteria.
Anyway, another argument for not changing the water in the first 14 days of cycling (unless there’s a dangerous ammonia spike out of nowhere) is that studies suggest that nitrifying bacteria use ammonia instead of ammonium for their source of energy.
Continuously using a dechlorinator that turns ammonia into ammonium could actually slow down the nitrogen cycle in your aquarium even further. The nitrifying bacteria would not be interested in the latter and will not be stimulated to multiply further.
This can easily turn into a vicious circle and a never-ending supply of Prime for a new, non-cycled fish tank…
If you’re using bottled bacteria you’d want your fish tank to cycle as soon as possible, right?
Tip: The best way to avoid all of this is by having a separate batch of dechlorinated water to use for water changes during aquarium cycling. The “emergency batch” should be dechlorinated at least 24 hours before use. Add a little bit of bottled bacteria to it to make up for the residual ammonia and it’s good to go.
Despite the described scenario Seachem’s Prime still remains a fantastic option for water dechlorination in a fully cycled aquarium. I’d recommend it to anyone who is using tap water for their aquarium. The residual ammonia from breaking down the Chloramine would be negligible to the already-established bacterial colony in a mature tank.
Anyway, after 14 days of cycling, you can perform a water change the regular way.
Don’t test the water for the first 2 days.
It’s okay to test it whenever you want but that is something that I stuck with throughout my tests.
Turn the UV lights off for the first day or two.
Ultraviolet light does affect the bacteria in a negative way.
For it to successfully establish I’d strongly recommend not turning those lights on the first day after the application (if you have them).
After the second week you can gradually add fish, but of course, don’t add 10 at a time. This would overwhelm the bacteria.
When doing the first water change the ammonia may go up, as there may be some ammonia in tap water, but I wouldn’t worry about it that much.
The levels should be overall low and should quickly get back to normal within the next 12 hours or so.
Also, don’t freak out if you don’t see your nitrites spike when water testing.
If you’re using Tetra’s SafeStart the process will skip the nitrites building up and will directly build into nitrates.
Don’t worry if your aquarium becomes cloudy at first.
The water will get clear within two to three days or a week at most.
Seeing cloudy water in a new aquarium at the beginning of its Nitrogen cycling is completely normal and it means that different bacteria are establishing their hierarchy.
Visit the link if you’d like to understand the process in depth. Understanding aquarium microfauna is, in my opinion, a core component of long-term success in fish keeping.
And that’s not an overstatement.
Which of the two should you choose? Which one is the best for your?
This is not one of those posts where I discuss the pros and cons of both products and leave the choice to you.
I have a statement:
Both can be (successfully) used for a start but If you’re starting a brand new empty fish tank and want to establish an environment safe from Ammonia, I’d recommend using Tetra SafeStart.
If you’re starting a brand new planted tank, doing huge water changes, or adding a lot of fish at once to an already cycled planted tank I’d go for API Quick Start.
Tetra SafeStart’s better at handling the nitrites (it virtually skips them) and API Quick Start will normalize the ammonia levels in the water quicker. The latter is more important in a mature tank with many live fish in it.
The API Quick Start is more efficient when you have a planted tank as it does not handle the nitrite levels as well as Tetra’s SafeStart. Live aquatic plants prefer ammonia and nitrite over nitrate as their source of nitrogen so, by using API’s product you will both speed up the cycle and let your plants feed on the nitrite.
Note: Between Tetra SafeStart and Tetra SafeStart Plus the difference is only in the concentration of the bacteria. I’m really happy with Using the Plus version, so the instructions will remain the same.
The alternative bottled bacteria for saltwater aquariums is called Bio Spira.
API doesn’t have a saltwater version, you just double the dose.
What’s with the mixed opinions then?
Honestly, it’s probably a human error.
Seeing how (upon proper use) the products kept proving themselves to me and others I spoke to, I can only conclude that.
Then again, the negative reviews pushed me to test them myself, before anything.
Conclusion
Fishkeeping is a hobby that requires some patience.
Momchil Boyanov is the Founder and now Senior Editor of AquAnswers. He has over 13+ years of experience in keeping home aquariums as well as providing professional aquarium services. Momchil has had his fair share of adventures in aquarium care. He has made MANY mistakes throughout his fishkeeping journey and thus learned A LOT. Through Aquanswers, Momchil shares knowledge about freshwater and saltwater aquariums with the people within this community.
390 thoughts on “Do They Work — API Quick Start VS Tetra SafeStart?”
I have had a betta fish for 6 months in a 29 litre tank and over the last 2 months his water has turned green and foggy and has developed fin rot, I have used myaxin and aqua are anti finrot treatments! The ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, ph is 7.2 and nitrate is zero so I don’t understand what’s going on! I’ve put in a few drops of safestart but I don’t know if that will help or make things worse but his finrot isn’t getting better! I would really appreciate any advice please because I have done research and your advice on safestart seems to be the only helpful I have understood!
I have had my betta fish for 6 months but for the last 2 months I’ve struggled to keep his fin rot under control, I have used Aqua care anti fin rot treatment and myaxim but nothing is working! His water has also turned green and misty but I change the water weekly but the last few weeks I’ve been changing it every 4-5 days! I test the water regularly and ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, ph is 7.2 and nitrate is zero so I really can’t understand the problem and his fin rot is getting worse, he’s still active and eating well but it would break my heart to lose him! I would really appreciate any advice as I don’t know what else to do!
Hi Lyndsey.
I think I know how to help.
Ok, since you’ve already used a fin rot med and your betta isn’t improving this could mean one thing.
Finrot is usually fungi that feed off dead matter. Most finrot treatments are anti-fungal. However, sometimes this condition occurs as a result of an underlying bacterial infection (which I’m positive is the case with your betta).
Remove the betta from its current tank as the tank is not cycled (0 nitrates and getting cloudy water both indicate that) and if you are to medicate him you may hinder the cycle even further.
Put him in a separate hospital tank and start medicating. Since the hospital aquarium will not be able to cycle you would need to perform daily water changes in there along with medicating. You can even use a bucket for the hospital, just make sure it’s transparent so you can observe him.
Seachem KanaPlex will treat the underlying bacterial infection along with the fungi causing the fin rot.
Seachem ParaGuard will significantly increase the chance of successful treatment by, again, treating all fungi infections.
The Indian Almond Leaves will strengthen your betta’s immune system along the way, which he’ll need to fight off the infections himself.
API Stress Coat will reduce the stress on the fish, keeping it mentally calm, active and feeding.
Treat him for about 2 weeks in the hospital tank. In the meanwhile sprinkle food in your main tank and pour a good bottle of SafeStart in it. This is to perform a fishless cycle and make the aquarium ready for when your betta gets relocated after the treatment.
In about 2 weeks you should have both a cycled aquarium and a healthy betta.
Good luck!!!
Looking forward to your reply.
Thankyou so much! I will buy what you recommend and hopefully it will do the trick! My hospital tank is 49 litres so I’m hoping he will be fine in it but If doing daily water changes should I add the seachem dechlorinator but I have read that it eradicates safe start?
Hi again,
You should not attempt to cycle the hospital tank because the antibacterial medication will most likely kill the beneficial bacteria. To maintain its hygiene you should just do the daily water changes. For the hospital tank, you definitely dechlorinate the water.
For your other main tank (the betta’s original home) you should not perform water changes and leave the beneficial bacteria to do their thing until the tank is fully cycled. This is the tank where you use SafeStart. After two weeks when you return the betta there you can do a water change and start monitoring water parameters carefully.
I linked you to Amazon because it always has everything and it’s delivered quickly. I think KanaPlex is the best for this kind of treatment, but I did some research and apparently, it’s not easy to find in the UK. However, I did find a website called Zoomalia.co.uk which seems to offer it.
If that does not work, from what I’ve read you should pay a visit to a vet so that they issue a prescription for the thing, because it’s an antibiotic. The active ingredient is kanamycin if that helps.
Try the website and drop me a comment to tell me how it all went.
Thankyou so much for all of your help! I really appreciate it and will do everything you recommend!
As I’m in the UK I will have to wait a few weeks to be able to have the kanaplex delivered so is there another treatment you can recommend please because I don’t want to leave him any longer than I have too!
Hello thank you for your informative and concise article. I have 4 Bettas and unfortunately made the mistake of getting them from petsmart which told me NOTHING about cycling a tank. They told me to let it run for 24hrs , add quick start and stress coat then add fish.
Long story short I have been at this journey for 5 months! I got 3 of the Bettas around the same time which was about 2.5 months ago. My first Betta I got about 6-7 months ago. I had him in a 5 gallon and transferred him to a 10. I totally screwed up because not only did I put a new filter on but I was using ammo lock and white diamond media which was giving me false ammo readings.
I finally have his tank cycled after months of research but my only concern is even though my readings got down to 0,0,5 – I never saw nitrites spike above 5. I did a water change today because I saw a little ammo around .25 but on another forum the guy said in a cycled tank nitrates are constantly rising….
Now on to the 3 tanks that I started all together. My first concern is what I am experiencing at this moment. I have my half moon Champ in a 5 gallon tank which I was doing a fish in cycle using prime for about 3 weeks or so. However, I never once saw any ammo over .25 nitrites 0 or any nitrates. Not once and being new to the hobby common sense tells me that having a fish in there for 3-4 weeks and
never detecting more the 0-.25 ammonia was not normal at all so on 8/23 I added a bottle of TSS. I totally forgot about not using prime during this time and on 8/25 I put 1ml in his tank because I got .25 reading of ammo. The next day 8/26 ammo was .25 nitrites 0 and nitrates between 5-10. After a few days the ammonia stayed at 0, nitrites never appeared and nitrates between 5-10.
Now all of a sudden 23 days into it I just tested the water and ammonia is at .50 nitrites are at .25 and nitrates are above 5 and a little lower then 10…. I totally lost track of time because of the hurricane and other life events and did not do the water change at day 14, I’m at day 23 – what made me test the water was because all of a sudden today he has been hiding in his rock all day and won’t come out.
My question is #1 did I ruin the cycle and now need to start over?
#2 why would I never show any nitrites the entire time but now their at .25
#3 should I perform a water change? Well clearly I should but how much and should I let the tap water sit for 24hrs after dosing with him because my water has a reading of .50 ammonia all the time. Or can I do a 50% water change, dose the new water with prime and add right away?
#3 I have quick start and also fluval biological booster, should I start again and add an entire bottle of should I just use the recommended dosage on the back that it suggest using with water changes?
I hope that wasn’t to much – I thank you in advance for any help you can provide and my main concern out of all that I listed is why nitrites would appear 23 days later… maybe because I didn’t do a water change?
I do have two more tanks but I will wait to hear back and figure this out before bombarding you and confusing myself lol.
Hi Dominique,
Thanks for sharing your story in detail (helps immensely with answers).
Onto your questions:
-#1 and #2 Most likely the aquarium was not fully cycled. Check my “lower nitrite” article that I have around for a decent amount of reasons as to why the cycle was hindered. If there are any hints of ammonia, then the cycle is not finished. I’d recommend adding a little bit of Epsom salts to reduce the nitrite stress on the betta.
-#3 Yes, do a 30% water change and IMO… don’t clean the filter, and pour bottled bacteria in it again. From what I get you did not make any water changes during this period of a month and a half? Definitely let the water sit after treating it with Prime.
-Second #3 😀 I think I answered that.
Hope this helps!
I really liked how thorough you were as I was having huge ammonia problems. Due to rotting live plants I believe. Just redid aquarium added tetra safe start and hoping for good outcome.
Thank you for the kind words, Dennis!
There will be a good outcome 😉
Hello, I am going to start a planted aquarium for the first time in a 10 gallon tank, I have 5 neon tetras currently in a 5 gallon tank, but my filter for that tank broke so I need to quickly transfer them into the new tank as soon as possible. Is there any way to do that? Also would the plants help speed up the cycle along with Quickstart? And how long should I wait to put the fish in?
Hi Sophie,
The plants will help by making the cycling less harmful, but they won’t speed the overall process.
10 gallons is too small to be cycled with 5 neon tetras, in my opinion. I think you’re risking to lose the fish if you stuck all 5 of them in there.
You could put 2 for the first 2 weeks and then another 2 for the second 2 weeks, as long as the cycling is going according to plan.
I’ve used the tetra safestart option. 550 litre tank. 2 fx5’s. Added 10 small fish etc. At 2 weeks now. Ammonia and nitrites been 0 for a while, nitrates at about 20ppm.been cloudy for 4 days. Will it clear, do I water change or just leave alone?
Hi Simon,
Though a partial water change won’t hurt, your readings are good, so everything seems in the norm. Cloudy aquarium water means that other bacteria (not the beneficial one) are establishing their place in the microfauna food chain. It’s absolutely common for a new tank. The cloudiness is actually millions of bacteria.
You have some plants in there right? The bacteria that are clouding up your tank are using up oxygen, but if you have plants in there you should be totally fine. Just wait it out. If you don’t have an airstone you can set up the outlet of your canister filters to move the surface of the aquarium water more. Surface agitation aerates the water better.
Also, I’d suggest that you feed sparingly. in such a large fish tank, it’s super easy to overfeed because sometimes the fish don’t notice the food you drop and you want to compensate by dropping some more right in front of them.
This can also support the bloom of heterotrophic bacteria.
Just feed sparingly, get some aeration through plants or water surface movement and wait it out patiently.
I have an article in the making about bacterial blooms (which I hope I’ll publish in no more than 2 weeks).
Hope this helps, Simon! Feel free to ask me anything if you deem my advice helpful.
P.S. Good to hear you’re being serious about filtration. You can gradually proceed to stock up the aquarium.
Many thanks for the quick reply. I keep discus they are in a temp tank at the mo while this one cycles. I have two big ball airstones running, the 2 x fx 5’s do give huge surface movement and it’s bare bottom no plants.
Hi! I’be been struggling to cycle my 45 litre (11 gallon) tank with a betta in it for months. Decided to try your method, on day 5 I still have maybe the slightest touch of ammonia showing up and nothing else? The only change was on day 2 after adding the API bacteria, I had zero every thing and a 0.25 nitrites, which I haven’t seen before or since, so I think it might have been a misreading 🙁 Do you have any advice or things I can try! (Thanks so much for this article, it really cleared up the super vague instructions on the bottle)
Hi Sam,
Just wait. Give it another week. When you see nitrates showing up and everything else is 0, then the tank is cycled.
Good luck, man.
I have a 15g tank that has been stable with 5 guppies for about 3 months. 5 days ago I added 4 adult mollies to the tank. One of the black girls then gave birth 3 days later and now I have about 2doz (hard to get an exact count) babies in a breeding box suspended inside the tank with a couple of suction thingies. Considering that my tank is also a nursery in some ways now, I did a water test on the evening of the birthing day and found Ammonia-0.25ppm, Nitrite-0ppm, Nitrate-20ppm. Immediately did a 20% pwc. Checked 24 hours later and ammonia was back to 0.25ppm and nitrates at 10ppm (nitrite still 0). Repeated a 20% pwc. I have a suspicion my tank has entered a mini cycle or is cycling again. Given that my fry box is attached to the side of the tank on the inside, I cannot do a pwc more aggressive than 20% without leaving the fry without any water and severely stressing them out. What should be my next steps?
Hi, Sid,
What does the pH read? If the water leans towards acidic, then the ammonia reading you’re seeing might actually be ammonium, which is harmless in an aquarium. I don’t really think the bioload spiked because of the fry if they’re newborn, it could be the 4 mollies.
You can pour in some bottled bacteria in there, no probs.
Hi, i am planning on upgrading my 57 liter to a 180 liter. If i double douse the Tetra Safestart can i add all my fish at once?
Hi Asif,
That strongly depends on how many fish you want to have in the aquarium. As stated in the article you’ll need to add one small-ish fish per 10 gallons of water.
180 liters equal roughly 47 US gallons, which means you should add 4 to 5 fish at once.
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I was gonna put 3 guppys in first, but the fish in the tank are cardinals,neons, corys, guppys and red coral pencilfish. But if i can add 4 to 5. Then i will add the pencilfish in first as they are fighting alot. Thanks for your help and quick reply.
Hi the fish that i was gonna add were cardinal tetras x6 Neon tetra x5 Corys X3 Red Coral Pencilfish X5 Guppys x 4. But i think i will add the pencilfish in first as they are fighting. Thanks for your reply
For the time being i want to move the Cardinals x6 Neonx5,corysx3 Guppys X5 Red Coral Pencil fishx5 to the new tank. The pencil fish keep fighting so was thinking of adding them in first to the bigger tank,to reduce the aggression. My original plan was to add the 3 or 4 guppys in first, thanks for your reply
Hi Asif,
Sorry, you got all 3 comments up, it just took me time to manually approve them (I fight spam this way).
You’re making the right decision to go with the pencilfish first.
Glad I was of help!
Thank you so much for this article! I’ve read it probably twenty times in the last two months. I received a new (and extremely tiny) 1.6 gallon fish tank and a betta as a birthday present back in March. Not knowing anything, and given poor advice from the pet store, the poor little guy died in 8 days from new tank syndrome. I was determined then to do a fishless cycle, and tried from March to the end of May with absolutely no results. I decided to try again in June using a hardier fish (I got a Panda Molly) and I used API QuickStart. I tried to follow your directions, but ran into a lot of problems because of the small tank size and the quick build up of ammonia- I was having to do 25-30% water changes daily to keep the fish safe and adding more bacteria in every day as well. Around the second week the ammonia dropped to zero and the nitrites spiked, then nitrates got high. Then another week and the pH which had been 7.4 dropped to 6 for unknown reasons (maybe something to do with the nitrite conversion process? Or low ammonia?) and then the ammonia went back up, and stayed between 1 and 2, nitrites were 0-0.25, and the nitrates rocketed up to 20-40 ppm. A 25% water change would lower the levels right back down, but it was exhausting and very stressful because I was doing it every day and worried a lot about the fish. The tank is an Imagitarium and honestly it’s terrible- i had added some filter sponges crammed into the back in addition to the carbon media filter to try to get more places for bacteria to grow. The tank leaked water out the top where the wire for the filter went and you would lose a lot of water before you knew it, and it also clogged really easily. It died this week (the filter) and I couldn’t get it to come back on, and with all the leaking, filtration issues, and trying to get the thing to just cycle even once was the last straw. I didn’t even like the tank and it was too little really for anything anyway, which as a brand new fish keeper you don’t know until you go looking for advice online, which varies greatly and then a million fish-shamers make you feel like a complete inhumane loser if you ask a question about a small tank. So I rescued the fish from the broken leaky tank, he had to spend the night in my glass mixing bowl, and then I put him in a gallon fish bowl until I can get a new tank. I bought the Fluval flex 9 gallon tank online because I think the lights will be good for my plant and it’s dimensions fit the space I have. I’m waiting for it to come in- supposed to be here July 6. SO, after that lengthy back story… here are my questions…
1. Can I transfer all the gravel substrate and filter media into my new tank when I set it up? Will that help speed things up? I will use more of the API QuickStart also. I also have two live plants I was going to move in as well from the broken tank.
2. Since the fish is now in an unfiltered fish bowl requiring frequent water changes, should I put the waste water in the new tank to give the bacteria something to eat? I thought maybe I should get the new tank going awhile before I put him back in an uncycled tank.
3. I read a lot about just adding drops of ammonia instead of fish food if you are doing a fishless cycle. Do you recommend that? How much ammonia do you add per gallon of water, or what parameters would the goal be (2ppm)? I use my API master test kit to check the chemicals.
4. I used Seachem Prime to dechlorinate at least twelve gallons of water a couple days ago, in clean, covered buckets while I wait for my new tank to get here. I was going to use that to fill up the new tank. Since I dechlorinated and let it sit is it fine? The tap water has high ph (8.4) and ammonia 0.5 ppm before the dechlorinator, after it goes down to 0, but I was confused about the breaking down of chloramine bonds and then it turns into even more ammonia??? I’ve always tried to add the dechlorinator ahead and let it sit several days before using the water but maybe I’m causing more problems.
I apologize for my excessive story here, but I’m brand new and just having an awful time. I love science and chemistry so it’s super stimulating, but also completely maddening. I would really appreciate any advice you have.
Thank you!!!!
Hi Amy. I’ll make your comment sticky so that more people can read about your struggles (which are common) and respectively read my reply because I’m about to DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE BOMBS IN HERE.
Firstly, thank you for your super long story, I enjoy reading these actually, it helps me understand how to improve my blog and what people want to know so thank you for your input and thank you for your kind words!
Onto your questions:
1. Yes, that will definitely speed up the cycle. Don’t wash them or anything, just put them in your new aquarium.
2. That’s okay. Good thinking.
3. Many fishkeepers recommend this, but I tend to avoid it because you don’t really know if your fish will produce the same waste when it’s introduced to the tank and the ammonia can spike again. You can then go and overdose with ammonia to make sure you’ll have enough bacteria for when adding fish but the cycling will take longer and in my opinion the whole point of using bottled bacteria is to cycle the tank as soon as possible, right? An aim of 2 ppm of ammonia is fine if you decide to do a fishless cycle.
4. The idea here is that your water facility may be using chloramine instead of its older cousin chlorine. Chloramine = chlorine + ammonia, basically. Seachem Prime is a great product, but it should be used wisely. It “detoxifies” the ammonia residue converting it to a chemical that’s harmless to fish life (probably ammonium). However, the effect “expires” in around 24 hours or so. If you dechlorinate the water right before adding it to a CYCLING fish tank you add up that “detoxified” ammonia which in about 24 hours (if not converted by the bacteria in that period) will turn lethal again and you end up with MORE ammonia, slowing down the cycle. Which is a spike. Not many know that higher ammonia can kill even the beneficial bacteria so you’re actually risking to hinder the cycle even more and end up at point 0 again. Makes sense?
So in your case, just test the dechlorinated water 48 hours after adding the dechlorinator and see if there’s more ammonia in there. If there isn’t – you’re good. Also, there’s another thing that dechlorinated water becomes bacteria heaven. There are this heterotrophic bacteria (that’s not the one that converts ammonia) is hiding in your substrate. When you add the dechlorinated water, however, this bacteria starts feeding directly from the water column (causing a bacterial bloom and a cloudy fish tank where the cloudiness is millions of bacteria). The thing is that this bacteria uses up oxygen and in overwhelming quantities, it may suffocate your fish. That’s rarely the case in bacterial blooms, to be honest, but it’s better to be safe than sorry in my opinion. With my method of fish-in cycling, you control both the actual amount of ammonia produced by your fish and preventing a bacterial bloom (or at least lessening the chances of it happening). In other words – you’re very wise to dechlorinate and let it sit for a couple of days. 🙂
P.S. When the pH is below 7 more ammonia automatically turns into harmless ammonium. It’s why you can see a tank with acidic water and, say, 1-1.5 ppm of ammonia and yet the fish in seem to thrive and look healthy. Mind, however, that pH scales logarithmically. 6 pH is TIMES more acidic than 7 pH.
P.S.2 What’s controvesial in this hobby is that people always think “I’ll buy a smaller tank – it’s less maintenance”, which is heavily supported by pet stores (making the most of the low-budget Customers, I guess). However, maintaining a smaller tank is actually way harder because water parameters are trice as volatile. Many inexperienced fish keepers don’t know that and end up killing their fish. One of the reasons I started my blog is to spread this kind of information and prevent this stuff. However, I do not support small tank shaming, I prefer to just inform people in a knowledgeable manner, rather than making them feel guilty about something that’s super counterintuitive (that the bigger tank is actually easier to maintain).
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Thank you so much- your response was extremely helpful. I retested the water I had dechlorinated and let sit and the ammonia is back to 0.5- so I must have chloramine in the tap water that broke down when I added the Prime. Should I still use it? Get a different dechlorinator? The new tank won’t get here until Tuesday, so I have some time to plan. I’m also going on vacation in a couple weeks, so I am hoping to be able to keep the process going while I am gone for a week- both with cycling the new tank and keeping the fish in his bowl alive, which is a large part of why I’m reluctant to move him into the new tank before I leave. I’m going to have a friend take care of him in his fish bowl and change his water until I come back; should I have her put some food in the new tank to keep the bacteria going? I think the Fluval Flex comes with some sort of biological filter stuff to add, so I’ll have to figure all that out when I put the tank together, but I planned on adding more of the API QuickStart as well, because the more the merrier, right? Anyway, I just really appreciated your response because I have learned SO much, mostly through my own mistakes, but the more I learn the more questions I have. Thank you!
Amy
Hi again,
No, Prime is good at what it does, it’s one of the better dechlorinators out there. Rarely these products can handle chloramine on their own. You should only be cautious when dealing with a cycling tank with fish in it. An established one would not have a problem with handling the small amounts of ammonia quickly.
Technically, if you put the fish in the new tank while it cycles you got all your problems solved – you don’t need to change the water, and you should only tell your friend to feed sparingly while you’re gone.
Given the circumstances, if you still want to go with a fishless cycle, and not pour in water that may spike ammonia in the temporary bowl (dangerous IMO) you could use distilled/purified water after properly remineralizing it for the water changes. Use Seachem Equilibrium or Seachem Replenish to remineralize it. Equilibrium is more suited for planted tanks because it contains no phosphates, which induce algae growth. For water changes in a temporary fish bowl, both will do the job. If you need more info on why I’m recommending this approach for your situation – I have an article on that (type “distilled” in the search bar).
In the case of cycling without the fish then yes, put some food in there to keep the ammonia supply.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for all your help! I went ahead and put the fish in the tank and added the API SafeStart. 6 days later the ammonia was 0- another day later the nitrites were 0! I returned from my trip over a week later with a happy fish and ammonia and nitrites were still 0, nitrates were more than 0 but less than 5. This was SO much easier and less stressful than the tiny tank! I really, really appreciate your articles and all the advice you give in the forum.
Amy
Super glad to hear that! Happy fishkeeping, Amy!
I enjoy reading your thoughts. I’ve been keeping aquaria for over 30 years now, and my love of the hobby was part of what propelled me to get a bachelors in biology. and then a masters in environmental science. I grew up in the hobby doing fish-in cycles (that’s all anyone did at the time), after a while learned how to do it right. But in the last 10 or so years it seems that people have gotten so dogmatic about fishless cycling, to the point that they believe there is no such thing about fish-in cycling done right. And the most dogmatic are often the least informed about the actual science of the nitrogen cycle. They don’t seem to understand that aquatic systems are all about dynamic equilibrium. I saw one guy on a forum bragging about how when he starts up a new tank, he doesn’t put new fish in it for four months. FOUR MONTHS. And nobody questioned him. What could he possibly think he’s accomplishing by keeping fish out of his aquarium for so long? With fishless cycling, especially with store-bought ammonia you’re raising a microbial ecosystem conditioned to feed on one thing – inorganic ammonia. It’s very one-dimensional, doesn’t take into account the other elements and compounds fish excrete, like phosphorous, urea (an organic nitrogenous wastes), fatty acids, lipids, etc. I won’t get into issues of co-metabolism, of other bacteria besides nitrosomonas and nitrobacter that also play roles in maintaining water quality and even keep fish from getting infections by being the benign bacteria that keep pathogenic bacteria and fungi at bay, but long story short, the only way to actually achieve the diverse microbial ecosystem in your tank that keeps your fish healthy, which is an ecosystem conditioned to feed off the various organic and inorganic wastes fish shed, excrete, etc., is to put fish in your tank.I’m not completely arguing against fishless cycling, but on the same token, it is not the only “responsible” way to cycle a tank like its proponents insist. Anyone willing to test every day and do partial water changes as needed while the microbial ecosystem is establishing itself with fish in it is equally as responsible a fishkeeper as a fishless cycler.
Hi, Mark, and many thanks for your valuable input.
Thank you for the warm words, I also enjoy reading long and well-written comments that actually bring in value, such as the one you posted.
I could not say what you said better. Also, coming from someone with a degree says something. I don’t have a degree in biology, but I try to do my research to the best of my abilities. I have also, at times, suspected that a fish-in cycle does more for the overall environment in the aquarium and contributes to a faster establishment of an eco-system.
I completely agree with your point on the responsibility taken when cycling a tank with fish in it. Yes, bottled bacteria are a form of aid, but, as you say, this has not always been the case and people did it naturally (and successfully).
Seachem Prime (a commonly used dechlorinator), for example, breaks down chloramine to chlorine and ammonia, takes care of the chlorine, and detoxifies the released ammonia. Every product that claims to detoxify ammonia likely transforms it into ammoniU
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I have had a betta fish for 6 months in a 29 litre tank and over the last 2 months his water has turned green and foggy and has developed fin rot, I have used myaxin and aqua are anti finrot treatments! The ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, ph is 7.2 and nitrate is zero so I don’t understand what’s going on! I’ve put in a few drops of safestart but I don’t know if that will help or make things worse but his finrot isn’t getting better! I would really appreciate any advice please because I have done research and your advice on safestart seems to be the only helpful I have understood!
I have had my betta fish for 6 months but for the last 2 months I’ve struggled to keep his fin rot under control, I have used Aqua care anti fin rot treatment and myaxim but nothing is working! His water has also turned green and misty but I change the water weekly but the last few weeks I’ve been changing it every 4-5 days! I test the water regularly and ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero, ph is 7.2 and nitrate is zero so I really can’t understand the problem and his fin rot is getting worse, he’s still active and eating well but it would break my heart to lose him! I would really appreciate any advice as I don’t know what else to do!
Hi Lyndsey.
I think I know how to help.
Ok, since you’ve already used a fin rot med and your betta isn’t improving this could mean one thing.
Finrot is usually fungi that feed off dead matter. Most finrot treatments are anti-fungal. However, sometimes this condition occurs as a result of an underlying bacterial infection (which I’m positive is the case with your betta).
Get Seachem’s ParaGuard, Seachem’s KanaPlex, some Indian almond leaves and API StressCoat (here are links for you: link to the KanaPlex on Amazon, link to API Stress Coat on Amazon, link to the Indian Almond Leaves Pack on Amazon, link to Seachem’s ParaGuard).
Remove the betta from its current tank as the tank is not cycled (0 nitrates and getting cloudy water both indicate that) and if you are to medicate him you may hinder the cycle even further.
Put him in a separate hospital tank and start medicating. Since the hospital aquarium will not be able to cycle you would need to perform daily water changes in there along with medicating. You can even use a bucket for the hospital, just make sure it’s transparent so you can observe him.
Seachem KanaPlex will treat the underlying bacterial infection along with the fungi causing the fin rot.
Seachem ParaGuard will significantly increase the chance of successful treatment by, again, treating all fungi infections.
The Indian Almond Leaves will strengthen your betta’s immune system along the way, which he’ll need to fight off the infections himself.
API Stress Coat will reduce the stress on the fish, keeping it mentally calm, active and feeding.
Treat him for about 2 weeks in the hospital tank. In the meanwhile sprinkle food in your main tank and pour a good bottle of SafeStart in it. This is to perform a fishless cycle and make the aquarium ready for when your betta gets relocated after the treatment.
In about 2 weeks you should have both a cycled aquarium and a healthy betta.
Good luck!!!
Looking forward to your reply.
Thankyou so much! I will buy what you recommend and hopefully it will do the trick! My hospital tank is 49 litres so I’m hoping he will be fine in it but If doing daily water changes should I add the seachem dechlorinator but I have read that it eradicates safe start?
Hi again,
You should not attempt to cycle the hospital tank because the antibacterial medication will most likely kill the beneficial bacteria. To maintain its hygiene you should just do the daily water changes. For the hospital tank, you definitely dechlorinate the water.
For your other main tank (the betta’s original home) you should not perform water changes and leave the beneficial bacteria to do their thing until the tank is fully cycled. This is the tank where you use SafeStart. After two weeks when you return the betta there you can do a water change and start monitoring water parameters carefully.
I linked you to Amazon because it always has everything and it’s delivered quickly. I think KanaPlex is the best for this kind of treatment, but I did some research and apparently, it’s not easy to find in the UK. However, I did find a website called Zoomalia.co.uk which seems to offer it.
If that does not work, from what I’ve read you should pay a visit to a vet so that they issue a prescription for the thing, because it’s an antibiotic. The active ingredient is kanamycin if that helps.
Try the website and drop me a comment to tell me how it all went.
Thankyou so much for all of your help! I really appreciate it and will do everything you recommend!
As I’m in the UK I will have to wait a few weeks to be able to have the kanaplex delivered so is there another treatment you can recommend please because I don’t want to leave him any longer than I have too!
Hello thank you for your informative and concise article. I have 4 Bettas and unfortunately made the mistake of getting them from petsmart which told me NOTHING about cycling a tank. They told me to let it run for 24hrs , add quick start and stress coat then add fish.
Long story short I have been at this journey for 5 months! I got 3 of the Bettas around the same time which was about 2.5 months ago. My first Betta I got about 6-7 months ago. I had him in a 5 gallon and transferred him to a 10. I totally screwed up because not only did I put a new filter on but I was using ammo lock and white diamond media which was giving me false ammo readings.
I finally have his tank cycled after months of research but my only concern is even though my readings got down to 0,0,5 – I never saw nitrites spike above 5. I did a water change today because I saw a little ammo around .25 but on another forum the guy said in a cycled tank nitrates are constantly rising….
Now on to the 3 tanks that I started all together. My first concern is what I am experiencing at this moment. I have my half moon Champ in a 5 gallon tank which I was doing a fish in cycle using prime for about 3 weeks or so. However, I never once saw any ammo over .25 nitrites 0 or any nitrates. Not once and being new to the hobby common sense tells me that having a fish in there for 3-4 weeks and
never detecting more the 0-.25 ammonia was not normal at all so on 8/23 I added a bottle of TSS. I totally forgot about not using prime during this time and on 8/25 I put 1ml in his tank because I got .25 reading of ammo. The next day 8/26 ammo was .25 nitrites 0 and nitrates between 5-10. After a few days the ammonia stayed at 0, nitrites never appeared and nitrates between 5-10.
Now all of a sudden 23 days into it I just tested the water and ammonia is at .50 nitrites are at .25 and nitrates are above 5 and a little lower then 10…. I totally lost track of time because of the hurricane and other life events and did not do the water change at day 14, I’m at day 23 – what made me test the water was because all of a sudden today he has been hiding in his rock all day and won’t come out.
My question is #1 did I ruin the cycle and now need to start over?
#2 why would I never show any nitrites the entire time but now their at .25
#3 should I perform a water change? Well clearly I should but how much and should I let the tap water sit for 24hrs after dosing with him because my water has a reading of .50 ammonia all the time. Or can I do a 50% water change, dose the new water with prime and add right away?
#3 I have quick start and also fluval biological booster, should I start again and add an entire bottle of should I just use the recommended dosage on the back that it suggest using with water changes?
I hope that wasn’t to much – I thank you in advance for any help you can provide and my main concern out of all that I listed is why nitrites would appear 23 days later… maybe because I didn’t do a water change?
I do have two more tanks but I will wait to hear back and figure this out before bombarding you and confusing myself lol.
Hi Dominique,
Thanks for sharing your story in detail (helps immensely with answers).
Onto your questions:
-#1 and #2 Most likely the aquarium was not fully cycled. Check my “lower nitrite” article that I have around for a decent amount of reasons as to why the cycle was hindered. If there are any hints of ammonia, then the cycle is not finished. I’d recommend adding a little bit of Epsom salts to reduce the nitrite stress on the betta.
-#3 Yes, do a 30% water change and IMO… don’t clean the filter, and pour bottled bacteria in it again. From what I get you did not make any water changes during this period of a month and a half? Definitely let the water sit after treating it with Prime.
-Second #3 😀 I think I answered that.
Hope this helps!
I really liked how thorough you were as I was having huge ammonia problems. Due to rotting live plants I believe. Just redid aquarium added tetra safe start and hoping for good outcome.
Thank you for the kind words, Dennis!
There will be a good outcome 😉
Hello, I am going to start a planted aquarium for the first time in a 10 gallon tank, I have 5 neon tetras currently in a 5 gallon tank, but my filter for that tank broke so I need to quickly transfer them into the new tank as soon as possible. Is there any way to do that? Also would the plants help speed up the cycle along with Quickstart? And how long should I wait to put the fish in?
Hi Sophie,
The plants will help by making the cycling less harmful, but they won’t speed the overall process.
10 gallons is too small to be cycled with 5 neon tetras, in my opinion. I think you’re risking to lose the fish if you stuck all 5 of them in there.
You could put 2 for the first 2 weeks and then another 2 for the second 2 weeks, as long as the cycling is going according to plan.
I’ve used the tetra safestart option. 550 litre tank. 2 fx5’s. Added 10 small fish etc. At 2 weeks now. Ammonia and nitrites been 0 for a while, nitrates at about 20ppm.been cloudy for 4 days. Will it clear, do I water change or just leave alone?
Hi Simon,
Though a partial water change won’t hurt, your readings are good, so everything seems in the norm. Cloudy aquarium water means that other bacteria (not the beneficial one) are establishing their place in the microfauna food chain. It’s absolutely common for a new tank. The cloudiness is actually millions of bacteria.
You have some plants in there right? The bacteria that are clouding up your tank are using up oxygen, but if you have plants in there you should be totally fine. Just wait it out. If you don’t have an airstone you can set up the outlet of your canister filters to move the surface of the aquarium water more. Surface agitation aerates the water better.
Also, I’d suggest that you feed sparingly. in such a large fish tank, it’s super easy to overfeed because sometimes the fish don’t notice the food you drop and you want to compensate by dropping some more right in front of them.
This can also support the bloom of heterotrophic bacteria.
Just feed sparingly, get some aeration through plants or water surface movement and wait it out patiently.
I have an article in the making about bacterial blooms (which I hope I’ll publish in no more than 2 weeks).
Hope this helps, Simon! Feel free to ask me anything if you deem my advice helpful.
P.S. Good to hear you’re being serious about filtration. You can gradually proceed to stock up the aquarium.
Many thanks for the quick reply. I keep discus they are in a temp tank at the mo while this one cycles. I have two big ball airstones running, the 2 x fx 5’s do give huge surface movement and it’s bare bottom no plants.
Hi! I’be been struggling to cycle my 45 litre (11 gallon) tank with a betta in it for months. Decided to try your method, on day 5 I still have maybe the slightest touch of ammonia showing up and nothing else? The only change was on day 2 after adding the API bacteria, I had zero every thing and a 0.25 nitrites, which I haven’t seen before or since, so I think it might have been a misreading 🙁 Do you have any advice or things I can try! (Thanks so much for this article, it really cleared up the super vague instructions on the bottle)
Hi Sam,
Just wait. Give it another week. When you see nitrates showing up and everything else is 0, then the tank is cycled.
Good luck, man.
I have a 15g tank that has been stable with 5 guppies for about 3 months. 5 days ago I added 4 adult mollies to the tank. One of the black girls then gave birth 3 days later and now I have about 2doz (hard to get an exact count) babies in a breeding box suspended inside the tank with a couple of suction thingies. Considering that my tank is also a nursery in some ways now, I did a water test on the evening of the birthing day and found Ammonia-0.25ppm, Nitrite-0ppm, Nitrate-20ppm. Immediately did a 20% pwc. Checked 24 hours later and ammonia was back to 0.25ppm and nitrates at 10ppm (nitrite still 0). Repeated a 20% pwc. I have a suspicion my tank has entered a mini cycle or is cycling again. Given that my fry box is attached to the side of the tank on the inside, I cannot do a pwc more aggressive than 20% without leaving the fry without any water and severely stressing them out. What should be my next steps?
Hi, Sid,
What does the pH read? If the water leans towards acidic, then the ammonia reading you’re seeing might actually be ammonium, which is harmless in an aquarium. I don’t really think the bioload spiked because of the fry if they’re newborn, it could be the 4 mollies.
You can pour in some bottled bacteria in there, no probs.
Hi, i am planning on upgrading my 57 liter to a 180 liter. If i double douse the Tetra Safestart can i add all my fish at once?
Hi Asif,
That strongly depends on how many fish you want to have in the aquarium. As stated in the article you’ll need to add one small-ish fish per 10 gallons of water.
180 liters equal roughly 47 US gallons, which means you should add 4 to 5 fish at once.
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I was gonna put 3 guppys in first, but the fish in the tank are cardinals,neons, corys, guppys and red coral pencilfish. But if i can add 4 to 5. Then i will add the pencilfish in first as they are fighting alot. Thanks for your help and quick reply.
Hi the fish that i was gonna add were cardinal tetras x6 Neon tetra x5 Corys X3 Red Coral Pencilfish X5 Guppys x 4. But i think i will add the pencilfish in first as they are fighting. Thanks for your reply
For the time being i want to move the Cardinals x6 Neonx5,corysx3 Guppys X5 Red Coral Pencil fishx5 to the new tank. The pencil fish keep fighting so was thinking of adding them in first to the bigger tank,to reduce the aggression. My original plan was to add the 3 or 4 guppys in first, thanks for your reply
Hi Asif,
Sorry, you got all 3 comments up, it just took me time to manually approve them (I fight spam this way).
You’re making the right decision to go with the pencilfish first.
Glad I was of help!
Thank you so much for this article! I’ve read it probably twenty times in the last two months. I received a new (and extremely tiny) 1.6 gallon fish tank and a betta as a birthday present back in March. Not knowing anything, and given poor advice from the pet store, the poor little guy died in 8 days from new tank syndrome. I was determined then to do a fishless cycle, and tried from March to the end of May with absolutely no results. I decided to try again in June using a hardier fish (I got a Panda Molly) and I used API QuickStart. I tried to follow your directions, but ran into a lot of problems because of the small tank size and the quick build up of ammonia- I was having to do 25-30% water changes daily to keep the fish safe and adding more bacteria in every day as well. Around the second week the ammonia dropped to zero and the nitrites spiked, then nitrates got high. Then another week and the pH which had been 7.4 dropped to 6 for unknown reasons (maybe something to do with the nitrite conversion process? Or low ammonia?) and then the ammonia went back up, and stayed between 1 and 2, nitrites were 0-0.25, and the nitrates rocketed up to 20-40 ppm. A 25% water change would lower the levels right back down, but it was exhausting and very stressful because I was doing it every day and worried a lot about the fish. The tank is an Imagitarium and honestly it’s terrible- i had added some filter sponges crammed into the back in addition to the carbon media filter to try to get more places for bacteria to grow. The tank leaked water out the top where the wire for the filter went and you would lose a lot of water before you knew it, and it also clogged really easily. It died this week (the filter) and I couldn’t get it to come back on, and with all the leaking, filtration issues, and trying to get the thing to just cycle even once was the last straw. I didn’t even like the tank and it was too little really for anything anyway, which as a brand new fish keeper you don’t know until you go looking for advice online, which varies greatly and then a million fish-shamers make you feel like a complete inhumane loser if you ask a question about a small tank. So I rescued the fish from the broken leaky tank, he had to spend the night in my glass mixing bowl, and then I put him in a gallon fish bowl until I can get a new tank. I bought the Fluval flex 9 gallon tank online because I think the lights will be good for my plant and it’s dimensions fit the space I have. I’m waiting for it to come in- supposed to be here July 6. SO, after that lengthy back story… here are my questions…
1. Can I transfer all the gravel substrate and filter media into my new tank when I set it up? Will that help speed things up? I will use more of the API QuickStart also. I also have two live plants I was going to move in as well from the broken tank.
2. Since the fish is now in an unfiltered fish bowl requiring frequent water changes, should I put the waste water in the new tank to give the bacteria something to eat? I thought maybe I should get the new tank going awhile before I put him back in an uncycled tank.
3. I read a lot about just adding drops of ammonia instead of fish food if you are doing a fishless cycle. Do you recommend that? How much ammonia do you add per gallon of water, or what parameters would the goal be (2ppm)? I use my API master test kit to check the chemicals.
4. I used Seachem Prime to dechlorinate at least twelve gallons of water a couple days ago, in clean, covered buckets while I wait for my new tank to get here. I was going to use that to fill up the new tank. Since I dechlorinated and let it sit is it fine? The tap water has high ph (8.4) and ammonia 0.5 ppm before the dechlorinator, after it goes down to 0, but I was confused about the breaking down of chloramine bonds and then it turns into even more ammonia??? I’ve always tried to add the dechlorinator ahead and let it sit several days before using the water but maybe I’m causing more problems.
I apologize for my excessive story here, but I’m brand new and just having an awful time. I love science and chemistry so it’s super stimulating, but also completely maddening. I would really appreciate any advice you have.
Thank you!!!!
Hi Amy. I’ll make your comment sticky so that more people can read about your struggles (which are common) and respectively read my reply because I’m about to DROP SOME KNOWLEDGE BOMBS IN HERE.
Firstly, thank you for your super long story, I enjoy reading these actually, it helps me understand how to improve my blog and what people want to know so thank you for your input and thank you for your kind words!
Onto your questions:
1. Yes, that will definitely speed up the cycle. Don’t wash them or anything, just put them in your new aquarium.
2. That’s okay. Good thinking.
3. Many fishkeepers recommend this, but I tend to avoid it because you don’t really know if your fish will produce the same waste when it’s introduced to the tank and the ammonia can spike again. You can then go and overdose with ammonia to make sure you’ll have enough bacteria for when adding fish but the cycling will take longer and in my opinion the whole point of using bottled bacteria is to cycle the tank as soon as possible, right? An aim of 2 ppm of ammonia is fine if you decide to do a fishless cycle.
4. The idea here is that your water facility may be using chloramine instead of its older cousin chlorine. Chloramine = chlorine + ammonia, basically. Seachem Prime is a great product, but it should be used wisely. It “detoxifies” the ammonia residue converting it to a chemical that’s harmless to fish life (probably ammonium). However, the effect “expires” in around 24 hours or so. If you dechlorinate the water right before adding it to a CYCLING fish tank you add up that “detoxified” ammonia which in about 24 hours (if not converted by the bacteria in that period) will turn lethal again and you end up with MORE ammonia, slowing down the cycle. Which is a spike. Not many know that higher ammonia can kill even the beneficial bacteria so you’re actually risking to hinder the cycle even more and end up at point 0 again. Makes sense?
So in your case, just test the dechlorinated water 48 hours after adding the dechlorinator and see if there’s more ammonia in there. If there isn’t – you’re good. Also, there’s another thing that dechlorinated water becomes bacteria heaven. There are this heterotrophic bacteria (that’s not the one that converts ammonia) is hiding in your substrate. When you add the dechlorinated water, however, this bacteria starts feeding directly from the water column (causing a bacterial bloom and a cloudy fish tank where the cloudiness is millions of bacteria). The thing is that this bacteria uses up oxygen and in overwhelming quantities, it may suffocate your fish. That’s rarely the case in bacterial blooms, to be honest, but it’s better to be safe than sorry in my opinion. With my method of fish-in cycling, you control both the actual amount of ammonia produced by your fish and preventing a bacterial bloom (or at least lessening the chances of it happening). In other words – you’re very wise to dechlorinate and let it sit for a couple of days. 🙂
P.S. When the pH is below 7 more ammonia automatically turns into harmless ammonium. It’s why you can see a tank with acidic water and, say, 1-1.5 ppm of ammonia and yet the fish in seem to thrive and look healthy. Mind, however, that pH scales logarithmically. 6 pH is TIMES more acidic than 7 pH.
P.S.2 What’s controvesial in this hobby is that people always think “I’ll buy a smaller tank – it’s less maintenance”, which is heavily supported by pet stores (making the most of the low-budget Customers, I guess). However, maintaining a smaller tank is actually way harder because water parameters are trice as volatile. Many inexperienced fish keepers don’t know that and end up killing their fish. One of the reasons I started my blog is to spread this kind of information and prevent this stuff. However, I do not support small tank shaming, I prefer to just inform people in a knowledgeable manner, rather than making them feel guilty about something that’s super counterintuitive (that the bigger tank is actually easier to maintain).
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Let me know if you need more advice.
Thank you so much- your response was extremely helpful. I retested the water I had dechlorinated and let sit and the ammonia is back to 0.5- so I must have chloramine in the tap water that broke down when I added the Prime. Should I still use it? Get a different dechlorinator? The new tank won’t get here until Tuesday, so I have some time to plan. I’m also going on vacation in a couple weeks, so I am hoping to be able to keep the process going while I am gone for a week- both with cycling the new tank and keeping the fish in his bowl alive, which is a large part of why I’m reluctant to move him into the new tank before I leave. I’m going to have a friend take care of him in his fish bowl and change his water until I come back; should I have her put some food in the new tank to keep the bacteria going? I think the Fluval Flex comes with some sort of biological filter stuff to add, so I’ll have to figure all that out when I put the tank together, but I planned on adding more of the API QuickStart as well, because the more the merrier, right? Anyway, I just really appreciated your response because I have learned SO much, mostly through my own mistakes, but the more I learn the more questions I have. Thank you!
Amy
Hi again,
No, Prime is good at what it does, it’s one of the better dechlorinators out there. Rarely these products can handle chloramine on their own. You should only be cautious when dealing with a cycling tank with fish in it. An established one would not have a problem with handling the small amounts of ammonia quickly.
Technically, if you put the fish in the new tank while it cycles you got all your problems solved – you don’t need to change the water, and you should only tell your friend to feed sparingly while you’re gone.
Given the circumstances, if you still want to go with a fishless cycle, and not pour in water that may spike ammonia in the temporary bowl (dangerous IMO) you could use distilled/purified water after properly remineralizing it for the water changes. Use Seachem Equilibrium or Seachem Replenish to remineralize it. Equilibrium is more suited for planted tanks because it contains no phosphates, which induce algae growth. For water changes in a temporary fish bowl, both will do the job. If you need more info on why I’m recommending this approach for your situation – I have an article on that (type “distilled” in the search bar).
In the case of cycling without the fish then yes, put some food in there to keep the ammonia supply.
Hope this helps!
Thanks for all your help! I went ahead and put the fish in the tank and added the API SafeStart. 6 days later the ammonia was 0- another day later the nitrites were 0! I returned from my trip over a week later with a happy fish and ammonia and nitrites were still 0, nitrates were more than 0 but less than 5. This was SO much easier and less stressful than the tiny tank! I really, really appreciate your articles and all the advice you give in the forum.
Amy
Super glad to hear that! Happy fishkeeping, Amy!
I enjoy reading your thoughts. I’ve been keeping aquaria for over 30 years now, and my love of the hobby was part of what propelled me to get a bachelors in biology. and then a masters in environmental science. I grew up in the hobby doing fish-in cycles (that’s all anyone did at the time), after a while learned how to do it right. But in the last 10 or so years it seems that people have gotten so dogmatic about fishless cycling, to the point that they believe there is no such thing about fish-in cycling done right. And the most dogmatic are often the least informed about the actual science of the nitrogen cycle. They don’t seem to understand that aquatic systems are all about dynamic equilibrium. I saw one guy on a forum bragging about how when he starts up a new tank, he doesn’t put new fish in it for four months. FOUR MONTHS. And nobody questioned him. What could he possibly think he’s accomplishing by keeping fish out of his aquarium for so long? With fishless cycling, especially with store-bought ammonia you’re raising a microbial ecosystem conditioned to feed on one thing – inorganic ammonia. It’s very one-dimensional, doesn’t take into account the other elements and compounds fish excrete, like phosphorous, urea (an organic nitrogenous wastes), fatty acids, lipids, etc. I won’t get into issues of co-metabolism, of other bacteria besides nitrosomonas and nitrobacter that also play roles in maintaining water quality and even keep fish from getting infections by being the benign bacteria that keep pathogenic bacteria and fungi at bay, but long story short, the only way to actually achieve the diverse microbial ecosystem in your tank that keeps your fish healthy, which is an ecosystem conditioned to feed off the various organic and inorganic wastes fish shed, excrete, etc., is to put fish in your tank.I’m not completely arguing against fishless cycling, but on the same token, it is not the only “responsible” way to cycle a tank like its proponents insist. Anyone willing to test every day and do partial water changes as needed while the microbial ecosystem is establishing itself with fish in it is equally as responsible a fishkeeper as a fishless cycler.
Hi, Mark, and many thanks for your valuable input.
Thank you for the warm words, I also enjoy reading long and well-written comments that actually bring in value, such as the one you posted.
I could not say what you said better. Also, coming from someone with a degree says something. I don’t have a degree in biology, but I try to do my research to the best of my abilities. I have also, at times, suspected that a fish-in cycle does more for the overall environment in the aquarium and contributes to a faster establishment of an eco-system.
I completely agree with your point on the responsibility taken when cycling a tank with fish in it. Yes, bottled bacteria are a form of aid, but, as you say, this has not always been the case and people did it naturally (and successfully).
Thanks again for your input, Mark. Stay well!