Fish Cycle
- Thread starter paige
- Start date
I have pretty high pH...7.9...so tetras don't usually thrive in my water. I've never lost a fish during a cycle but I'm thinking I'll go with 7 danios. If I went with 10 and they all survived that would be a lot of activity in one tank...7 danios is probably plenty...and that leaves a lot of room for adding stuff later on. Wish me luck!
I've never done a fishless cycle before. I did read online about using granular ammonium chloride to get the cycle going...and I have easy access to that (scientist husband). But I'm confused when the cycle comes to and end do I just change the water and put in fish? If I can't get to the LFS right away do I just wait to change the water until I'm ready to go? Also, do I need to fully stock the aquarium to keep the bio-filter going or can I still slowly stock? I like to stock slowly and keep my tank a little under-stocked for those impulse buys 
stock slowly, everytime you add a fish the amonia will spike a little and then nitrites then nitrates, so i guess im saying that it will go through a cycle everytime, depending on the size of tank/fish , sometimes it may not even show up on tests. mine didnt, but it was 1 1inch fish every few weeks, so...
You can actually just use plain, pure, clear ammonia to cycle with. If you fishless cycled, you can add the stock all at once but you don't have to. Yes, after the cycle is done, just do a water change and head out for some fishies. If it finishes cycling before you're ready for fish, just keep adding its ammonia every day until you are ready, so that the bacteria don't die before the fish get there.