cycling tanks with damsels

[dan30097]

Take a piss in your tank, that will give it plenty of ammonia. Then wait for it.....wait for it....and test it. Your ammonia is at 0 when your water is the same color you pissed in it

 

[atlweb]

Not a fan of this. Seems pretty cruel. If there is one thing I learned in this hobby... be patient. Waiting a few weeks before slowly adding anything is always a much better choice.

Anytime I tried to rush adding things... it always ended badly. Out of respect for fish, I personally would not do it.

 

[jennm]

Brandon - it's Stability. Bio Spira is a Marineland product.

Demifelix, damsels are evil and once they mature, they torment everything in the tank. Most people regret having them, sooner or later.

Nothing like one killing a $100 fish (I've heard of that happening). Murphy's law of reefkeeping - the cheapest fish wins.

Jenn

 

[reeferboy83]

Has anyone tried the Instant Ocean Bio Spira?
I have heard of people using it with good results.

Any reviews?

 

[gmpolan]

Used it once, absolutely hated it. Although tested 0 for ammonia,nitrates, etc i still didnt feel like the tank was cyceled and had some odd fish deaths. Just take the time to cycle the tank properly imo...

 

[jef4y]

JennM;655003 wrote: I've never seen a need to deliberately foul the water. If you're using cured live rock, just let it be and wait for the diatom bloom, keep an eye on parameters and when the bloom happens add your CUC (provided the params check out) and proceed slowly.

This...

Start with established, cured live rock that you can get LOCALLY and transport quickly to prevent die-off. There are more than enough sources around to do this.

From there, as mentioned, wait a while, add slowly & methodically.