siskiou Posted July 29, 2003 Share Posted July 29, 2003 Any opinions on using either of these products during the LR curing process? Does it disturb the cycle or does it help preserve life? Siskiou Link to comment
seabass Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 I would say yes and yes. Bacteria are converting the Ammonia into Nitrites and then into Nitrates. If you get rid of the Ammonia, they will not be able to reproduce to the levels that your tank needs. It should help preserve life, but your biological filter will suffer because of it. In addition, many Ammonia test kits will give you inaccurate readings when using products like Prime. If you have a bottle of Prime, good; after your tank is established, you can use it if you have a death in your tank. If you are concerned about preserving the life on your rock during the cycle, I recommend small partial water changes each week (this may slightly effect cycle times but will not halt your cycle). In theory, less Ammonia = less death = a less harsh cycle. After your cycle, add your livestock slowly and your biological filter will be able to adjust itself properly. Link to comment
Chronicles Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 It doesn't get rid of the ammonia it turns it into ammonium which is still broken down by the cycle but is not toxic to fish. It will however still show up on your tests. Prime is used for ammonia and nitrites (in a pinch). Link to comment
seabass Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Thanks for clearing that up Chronicles, but for my own sake, do you know if the same kind of bacteria breaks down Ammonia and Ammonium? In other words, as siskiou asked, do you know how this affects the cycle? I always felt that Prime was best suited for established tanks (in a pinch). Link to comment
siskiou Posted July 30, 2003 Author Share Posted July 30, 2003 Thanks for the opinions, so far. After reading up on this on several forums (I now wish I had gotten some live Phytoplankton for the cycle, too) I decided to use the Prime, after doing a waterchange. The readings were a little lower (due to the waterchange, I assume). Today (day 5), the ammonia is down from "off the chart" to about 1.5ppm, Nitrites are off the chart, and Nitrates at 10ppm. The three hitchhiker snails are still alive, and so are two tiny hitchhiker featherdusters. I visited the LFS, and our LR just looks a million times better than theirs (I hope it won't turn into that kind of brown, dead looking stuff after the curing is done!). I've been using a small powerhead to blast off detritus from the LR before a waterchange. Quite a bit of stuff comes off, and I'm sure a lot of it settles right back down on it. Should I run a filter with some floss to strain this out? Siskiou Link to comment
seabass Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Floss in your filter is a great way to clear your water, just don’t leave it in (it will become a Nitrate factory). :x Removing the dirty floss (after your water has cleared) will help lessen the load on your biological filter (LR and LS) by eliminating the need to break the debris down. Also, if you don’t get rid of the in-organic fine particles, they will continue to cloud up your tank whenever disturbed. Link to comment
Sltwtr4lfe Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 how do you floss your filter? question from a newb Link to comment
seabass Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Floss is a media that goes in your filter. It can be just polyester fiber or (more commonly) it can come on a filter cartridge in the form of a polyfiber pad. Link to comment
Sltwtr4lfe Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 oh mine has like a spnge type thing its balck and is like very porus like the white up above but its black Link to comment
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