First time cycling

[lindsay]

I was just wondering how to actually start the cycling process? what do you use to put the initial ammonia in the water? i heard you put fish in but i don't want to use live animals like fish to start the cycling coz i reckon it's cruel. any suggestions?

also, would keeping a tank on top of a filing cabinet be a problem for an axi? i don't open and close it all day long but i do need to go into it reasonably regularly and don't know whether the drawers opening and closing would startle the poor thing

 

[alex]

dont know about the second question but i heard you can piss in the tank and that will start it because urine is ammonia. pretty sick in my thoughts so i just used fish when i did.

 

[casey]

Lindsay, I'm cycling my tank at the moment and I'm using frozen brine shrimp cubes which I got from an aquarium.

I'm following the cycling advice given by Ed Kowalski...

http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml

Try that site - it should give you all the information you need.

I've accidently dropped the lid of my axie's tank a couple of times and she got quite stressed by it - if you closed the filing cabinet very gently I don't think it would be too much of a problem, but it might be a problem when it comes to evening out the pressure of the tank.

Could you keep it anywhere else?

Have you read everything on www.axolotl.org yet?

There's some really good information on that site.

I'm no expert, so you may want to wait for advice from one of the axolotl gurus!

Good luck!

 

[sharn]

putting small amounts of food in daily is the best way. it gives the bacteria something to feed on in order to multiply

 

[lindsay]

so there are actually already the right bacteria in the water when it comes out of the tap and all i have to do is get them to breed?

 

[sharn]

i suppose, basically. but very very small amounts

 

[jennifer]

I suspect the good bacteria don't come from tap water, but from dust, food, or other stuff that goes into the tank. You can get faster cycling if you add a rock or filter media from an established tank.

 

[claire]

i used a broken up frozen burger to build up my ammonia in my tank when starting to cycle it.lol. it had a very bad smell after a week.lol.oh well...it got my tank cycled in 3 weeks so im not complaining.hehe.

 

[jordan]

i am in the middle of cycling my tank right now so and im using fish, but im noticing that its going to take quite a while for me. You may want to go with what Jennifer said.