Cycled Tank?

[busybones]

Some people prefer using the fishless cycling process for many reasons. One being they don't want to hurt the fish that would be used in the process...even if they are hardy fish they are still being harmed. Another would be that after the process is finished and the tank ready for it's true owners they have to find a new home for the poor fish used to cycle the tank. Cycling with fish often takes much longer than the alternative.

[Pufferpunk]

You might want to read our article on Fishless Cycling. I;m always surprised how many aquarium shop employees still use the barbaric practice of cycling with fish.
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

[ittybittyfishy]

I don't have a place to put the fish I would use to cycle the tank - and I'm not going to just throw them out or something. So I thought it would be better to cycle without the fish and I think that it's working pretty good so far. I've seen the rise in ammonia, and the nitrites form, and I'm starting to see nitrates go up now too. Ammonia is starting to go down to practically nothing, leaving me with nitrites and nitrates. Granted, I did do a water change 'cause the ammonia went up beyond reading and I got scared. ... Don't know WHY I got scared, there weren't any fish in there.

But I'm almost at 0 ammonia and I think I'm going to do another big water change to see if I can get nitrites to 0 and nitrates under 20ppm. Should be ready for my puffer next week.

[Malabar Puffer]

So is it being barbaric when you do a water change........awaits of corse it isnt everyone in the whole world buy's RO water then put's all the necessary checimals back in it to pours in there tank ?

[ittybittyfishy]

So is it being barbaric when you do a water change........awaits of corse it isnt everyone in the whole world buy's RO water then put's all the necessary checimals back in it to pours in there tank ?

... Huh? RO water?

[Eager Newbie]

RO means reverse osmosis. Its just really good filtered water.
I think it means is that its stressful for the fish, and water that isn't filtered can contain very harmful chemicals and contaminants that harm fish.
I could be wrong though...

[Malabar Puffer]

You might want to read our article on Fishless Cycling. I;m always surprised how many aquarium shop employees still use the barbaric practice of cycling with fish.
library/water-filtration/fishless-cycling/

First time i have read about fishless cycleing looks like a good method tbh but it says when you use fish it burns the skin i found this is true but only if clorine is present in the water hence de-clorinator i only use fish when my tanks are fully declornated the down side is there is no bacteria in the water to fight off diease bein the main factor in fish deaths.

[Pufferpunk]

No--ammonia & nitrite burn gills, eyes & skin, especially on scaleless species like puffers. If you are going to use RO water for FW fish, you must reconstitute the minerals beck into the water, buy using a product like, Osmo-Prep. Most dechlorinated tap water should be sufficient for FW/BW fish's WC.