cycling?

i have a 75 gallon african cichlid tank.. I've had it for a fair long time..

They're great and the more you have the better the survival of them all..

I don't really think cycling a freshwater is that important.. I just add my tapwater conditioner of which i use Aqua Master A.C.E (Ammonia Cholrine Eliminator) add all my rock plants etc. and let that clear up through the filter for a few hours till its mostly clear.. the fish are just acclimated over 15 mins and mines perfect.

I suppose you would add a few fish at a time.. But cichlids are great because the more the merrier

 

well i told you guys i would post a reply update on whats going on. my 38 gallon tank officially has fish in it. i got 5 red minor tetra's. they are still in the bag got back from the store not even 5 mins ago.

so we will see if everything works out alright. but the lady at the fish store brought something to my attention. and mentioned if i added any salt to the aquarium? which i didn't does anyone have a clue what she's talking about? and if its actually needed.

will post again. maybe in a new thread let everyone know how things are going. i'm hopefully in two weeks or so i'm thinkin about adding 2-3 cory cats. i seem them today. i said "YEA!!!! i'm gonna get a couple of those".

thanx everyone for all ur help and support through this process. hopefully all goes well.

one thing i wanna know for sure. when the ammonia reaches 2.0ppm should i do a 10-20% water change? just covering every bit of information i can get. thats what i had planned anyways was 2.0ppm = water change.

 

sorry for a 2nd post before anyone has replied but i realized a question that needs to be asked. seems like everyone here is more informed on saltwater, and other types of aquariums.

why has most posters said its not that important to cycle a freshwater tank? is there a major difference in salt and freshwater aquariums? or what makes it less important to cycle a freshwater tank? (sorry could not think of the correct question to ask so i asked 3)

the reason why i asked is people on this forum i have yet got a negative response towards using fish during the cycle. other people i've spoke to got very offensive about the idea and was determined to get me to do a fishless cycle. has me very curious.

oh and also has anyone else had good experiences using the product called "cycle" i can obtain a small bottle at walmart for 6 bucks. i was actually considering using it because it did claim that it keeps ammonia' and nitrites at safer level's.

 

Freshwater fish are not as sensitive to ammonia as saltwater.. a cycle in a saltwater, especially reef tanks is more critical, and saltwater is more expensive!! IDK.. it's just different. You can add salt to your FW tank, I used to. It helps with injuries and prevents ich, rot, and velvet disease. Saltwater heals. It's not that' it's not important to cycle FW, FW species are just more tolerant.

 

ooooo. great answer. that makes sense. i was just curious because i didn't want these people to get me down for not using a fishless method. i'm sure it'll be fine. just make sure that the ammonia and nitrites doesn't skyrocket. and already i can tell that these tetra's are more of a community type fish. cuz they are swimming in the group of 5. its quite interesting to watch.

 

Yeah I miss having fish that school.. glad you were into the Corydoras... they're very comical! Yeah you can cycle FW with fish.. I always did.. never lost anything.. You did the right thing! I never used a test kit with FW, except when I kept Discus.. which I think are harder than most Sw fish. K+ buddy!

 

Pics?

 

peredhil i haven't got to the pic's part of it yet. my girlfriends camera isn't working at the moment. i'll try to get some asap

 

well so far. its been over 12 hours. everything seems to be doin alright. i had a weird power failure to make me have to buy a new 6-way. those tetra's are weird fish though comical to watch.

hope all continues to go well through out the next couple weeks. just wanted to post again. my girlfriend got a kick out of watching them eat for the fact they was all in a school at the time. (i thought it was cool as well).

thanx again for everyone's help talk to u guys all in the near future i'm sure.

 

Yea Yea! Your makin me miss FW!