Pellets over live food?

[monica]

I read up on the 'bacteria boosters' (as they called them) and it didn't seem like a good idea. http://honors.montana.edu/~weif/firsttank/bacteria.phtml

There's the link to the website if anyone is interested. It doesn't sound like it's a good idea in the long run. I never had trouble with 'cycle' in a normal fish aquarium, but the old fashioned way of cycling a tank sounds like the best bet and you would end up with a better established tank.

Patience patience......I need to work on it.

 

[grant]

I've tried everything with cycling tanks lol. I tried cycling my tank with my axolotls in it and doing daily 10% water changes, but that didnt work well and ammonia was present and rising so I took them out and pretty much had to start all over. I'd recommend putting them in like plastic containers or something (I know it can be hard to find room in the house and can be quite an inconvenience) but it really is the best way to go. I've also used some of those bacteria building chemical things and they don't seem to help to much but I figure they would mainly help in the beginning stages of the cycling to first introduce bacteria. What I would do would be put the axies in little containers get some large feeder fish and just let it filter around for a few weeks checking the water levels every few days. My girlfriend works at Pet Barn on Oakdale and she could probably help you out with any axolotl stuff, her name is Shaila if you ever need help : )

 

[cynthia]

Monica - that was a good link on the boosters, thanks.

 

[monica]

The pet barn, that's just around the corner from me. =)

I'm glad you liked the link, Cynthia. I found it interesting!

And for now, the little ones are in a large critter keeper hanging out in my bedroom. And as for the tank, it is up and running and has poo and shrimp in it.
The ammonia spiked again today and tested at 1--it was 0.1 yesterday. (that was a fast spike!)
pH is at 7.4 Yesterday the nitrites were at 0 while today it is at .25 and the nitrates look between 80-160. Scary results!!!! Definitely an unsafe tank at the moment.

 

[grant]

It will get a lot worse too! My ammonia was beyond the max on the test kit lol. Over 8 lol. Then my nitrites went up a little then calmed down and nitrates kicked in but then when everything seemed fine the nitrites spiked again and then finally everything evened out.

 

[aimee]

Has anyone ever tried using a product called EcoStart for speeding up the cycling process? I've never used it on axies (but then again, I've never had one lol.....hoping to get one today!!) but I have used it on my fish tanks and after 5 days my waters were safe for fish. All the fish are fine and happy. I tested my water everyday and there was a little flux in the ammonia going from 0 to .25 and then back again but it soon went back to 0 and stayed there. That was a few months ago. I'm not sure I'd want to risk using it on axies, but its worked great on my two fish aquariums. Since we're on the topic, I just thought I'd ask if anyone else has any experience with it.

 

[joan]

Cycle starters are usually basically useless. The best way is to do it the old fashioned way, tried and true. Axolotls are much more sensitive to ammonia and nitrates than fish.

 

[kevin]

When cycling my 10gal (which just finished) I tried out both Cycle (clear, basically orderless) and another product suggested by my LFS. I forget the name, but the term - smelly organic soup - would be a good name. The tank still took about 60 days to fully cycle.

Tonight I'm going to setup a new 29 gal tank which will be my axeys final home. I plan to use a bag of bio pellets from the cycled tank to help seed the new tank. This is a common practice as the bacteria are established on the media, are from a healthy tank and are alive and processing.

I'll be using White Cloud Minnows from the 10gal as the ammonia source. A better fish to use than goldfish and never use feeder fish to cycle. They are not maintained as well as trade fish and may carry diease and/or parasites.

One difference is that the 10gal tank has under gravel filtration and the 29 will be a sand base with a canister filter and spray bar.

 

[joan]

Kevin, I've never used a cycle starting product, and my tanks take about 40 days to cycle, much less if seeded. If you're putting in stuff from an already-cycled tank, you do not need to use any fish or such to re-cycle the tank, as it's already cycled (by the addition of decorations, substrate, biopellets, etc).