Tank jump-starters (Attention newbies)

[Phil5613]

Ok first the disclaimer--Yes I do sell them and yes I do try to educate on them and no I have never used them for any Saltwater tank just fresh. For anyone who is wanting to use any of the bacteria starter liquids here is something to think about: Bacteria changes with bio-load and even though these products work what is the long term? If you are not letting the tank cycle on your own how will you know what a spike looks like? The water doesn't change color or give you warning. I have only recommend these products in emergency when there is livestock in the tank and some catastrophe happens to the filtration. Taking the cycle slow helps develop good habits like regular testing , looking in the tank to make sure everything is ok and doing proper water changes ( too many cycle drags on-- too few and you can build up nitrates or worse and cycle drags on) If you feel the need to add these products after the cycle I.E. after adding lr you have added to much too soon and have not followed proper stocking procedure. As I said the bacteria changes and it grows slowly so should your tank. Overstocking too fast is not an emergency its a problem. An emergency is changing all the filter pads at once in a FO tank removing all the bacteria, an emergency is medicating a tank and killing the bacteria bed, an emergency is rinsing your filter pads in tap water and having the chlorine kill your bacteria. I guess what I am saying is an emergency stems for an accident not an intentional move. Yes they have a place in the aquatic world no that are not a cure all snake oil elixir.

[tdevil]

hi Phil,
ok, i like your post, i just want to throw my opinion in (which you prob allready know) and im not trying to flame you in any way, or debate you
i have had and still do have fresh water aquariums, i use to breed africans and a few south americans for the LFS and friends around the area
at one time i had over 20 tanks running (i dont like to say that much), 15 of these were just for the breeding stock, which were 15g breeder tanks stacked 5 long and 3 hi, all with seperate filters, then i had a few larger tanks for the larger fish, my 150g was for the Fron's and the 110 was for Daffodil Brichardis a school of about 45 +/-, most of the breeders were Aulonocara's, i never had or will have Pseudotropheus's (way to comon, IMO)

im not bragging in any way , just want to let you know that i have had freshies for quit some time

ok, to the point
i have never used this cycle stuff, im not a chemist and dont understand how it works, or how some one can bottle up what can take some time to build up in a fish tank, that is the reason i tell people not to use it, i dont want to say anything that isnt true, so i will leave it at that

td

PS, i think that i will give Boomer a PM and see if he can clarify this, i dont want to debate this w/o the knowlege

[Gresham]

how some one can bottle up what can take some time to build up in a fish tank

The same way they do any other monoculture, they grow it. This has been done for years, a fairly old technology actually.

The cycle type products are used MAJORLY in aquaculture, theres absolutly nothing wrong with them. The strains and counts very highly from company to company though.

[tdevil]

duh, thanks Gresham, that part of it makes sense

[Phil5613]

Thanks for the replies! Hey td I don't even mind a mild burning once in a while LoL! But I actually think we are on the smae page I was saying I don't suggest using them.
Now Gresham I also agree that they are used in aquaculture. I also have the opinion that they are used to stabilize tanks that are constantly under going major live stock changes and that is what we try to avoid in our personal reef tanks.
So niether of you are wrong in my opinion I was just trying to point out that the quick and easy isnt always quick and easy. Also I don't want some of the people reading these post to think that its ok to cram the tanks and run full bore without knowing what they are really doing. If you ask me if you can't show patiance when things are going well what are they really going to do when the tank crashes?

Don't use this stuff as it goes against what is trying to be said here. This was a suggestion for newbies. You can't expect a newbie to know what is happening to the tank when you add this cr@p to skip corners instead of waiting for the tank to mature on it's own.
Go Slow Let It Grow.
I am totally against cutting corners and that is was Cycle is, a product to cut corners.

[karlas]

i tried using one of them before. It seemed to fix the problem but for only about 2 days then it went back to the way it was. just had to let the tank take its time to straighten itself out