The Puffer Forum

Both my dads tanks and my goldfish tank are healthy with happy fish and no ammonia and nitrites. Never knew about cycling untill i bought a puffer =( this site has tought me alot! i was real scared i was going to kill the guy from what i was reading. all because puffers as so darn awsome!i really wish the petstore would have told me. even though i doubt he would make it there either. (at least they had cycled tanks tho).

thanks so much for the help guys ill be sure to add lots of photos once i stop splashing water all over the place doing water changes and checks. Ive changed like 300 gallons probably so far! all thanks to you guys and a little bit of work i think hes going to be fine! still checking parameters bi-hourly.

Little Puffy is lucky to have you working so hard to make things right. Fingers crossed for you.

Im just glad someone made this site. I thought water changes could be harmful, if done to often. Everything this site has tought me has weighed very heavily in all my decisions and will continue to! untill i know enough from experience to maybe help folks like me! I cant wait to ask real questions about this specific type of puffer and grow him into a big happy puffy!

Ill keep trying my best to make this as quick and smooth as possible for him. even if that mean lots of bucket hauling for me!

I CANT THANK EVERYONE WHO HAS READ THIS AND HELPED ENOUGH! nothing helps more than hearing it from someone who's done it! or seen people like me mess it up a bunch!

Pufferpunk wrote:Have you looked into an instant-cycling product like what's listed in the ER cycling article in our Library? Worked great for me. Don't use anything else though.

Adding Cycle is like adding more fish poo to your already polluted water. It's total junk!

What?! Its a good thing I've been changing the water alot! The pet store guy told me it would help! Grrrr.... That's the last thing I want is more poop! I hope he's okay while I'm at work today. The ammonia and nitrites were low this morning. I hope that means the filters from my other tanks are handling the toxins enough for a day. I'll let every one know how it goes when I get home!

Thanks again

Woah! I think it working. My little bro just came back from school and tested for ammonia and nitrite. He said puffy is hiding and both tests came out clear! Has any one every had things go south from this point?!?!

Well, with everything your doing & time--it had to cycle eventually!

Well, if the readings are 0 now & you haven't done a recent water change, I would hope that you're over the worst. Certainly keep regular checks on the water quality until you are sure though. Well done.

Woot! Will it or can it revert tho. Atleast in the beginning stages.

Unless you do something to unbalance the tank - add more fish or livestock of any sort or don't clear uneaten food or take the filter apart & clean it too soon, I don't see why the ammonia/nitrites should creep back up. Just do regular water changes from now, don't overfeed, keep testing & leave the filter well alone for now!

Awsome! I'll wait a week or two before I do anything. I'll just change the water when I get high nitrates. Once I'm sure I've got stability I'll put sand and what ever else puffy needs to be happy. And guess where imma go for advice! Lol

If you've got a reliable reading, I can't see it going bad unless a) you manage to kill you bacteria, or b) you get an excess of ammonia from overstocking or overfeeding etc.

When you add that sand, remember that the current substrate is holding a lot of that nitrifying bateria, so save it and put it into pantyhose or something and keep it in the tank with the sand for a week or two to letsome of the bacteria transfer to the sand.

PUFFY IS GREAT!!!
tanks cycled fully now just checking lvls once a week!

Check out the new pic and see for yourself!


Things have come a long way.