Water Tests after using Dr. Tim's one & only.

[kmanbig]

I setup a 70 gallon 2-weeks ago and used Dr. Tim's One & Only Nitrifying Bacteria. I have 4 clown fish and about 10 lbs of uncured live rock (in the tank) to help cycle. Filter is a sump with Bio Wheel (Marineland) and Protein skimmer has been left off. I test the water every 3 days and up to today all the tests have shown my water to be perfect, 0 Ammonia, Nitrite & Nitrate and PH is at 8.3.
Shouldnt I have seen a spike in Ammonia or Nitrite at this stage? My thoughts are this:

1. Dr. Tim's worked better than I imagined and its completly cycled, or:

2. I don't have enough fish and rock to cycle the tank in a reasonable amount of time or,

3. I might be getting a false reading on my tests.

Unfortunately I could not find any info on Dr. Tim's site advising what to expect your first few weeks in terms of water tests. What do you guys think is happening?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Bifferwine]

I think it would be either #1 or #3. You shouldn't be cycling with live fish at all -- and 4 fish is definitely enough to kick off a cycle. You also do need to get more rock though. You should have 1 to 2 lbs per gallon, so 10 lbs is not nearly enough to handle the bioload of your tank.

 

[little_fish]

+1 Biffy

You should remove those fish until you know the tank has cycled, its needlessly cruel to cycle with living animals. Next time, drop in a piece of raw table shrimp. At the very least you will need to remove two of the clowns, otherwise they will fight until only two remain.

 

[d2mini]

Everyone here in houston starting up new tanks is using that stuff with good success.
I nearly fell over when i heard the price for that bottle. lol
But ya, I basically do the same thing with TBS live rock/sand and the bacteria packet he sends so I would think you are going to be ok, but even if you made it through with little to no cycle, you still shouldn't add all those fish at once this early.
And once every 3 days is not enough when cycling a new tank, IMHO.
When I get my TBS rock I know it's gonna hit quick and its gonna hit hard. So you have to test twice a day and be ready for massive water changes. You might not have to do that with Tim's, but I would test once a day.

 

[kmanbig]

Thanks for the comments guys. I kinda figured I would get an ear full for using live fish as most people seem to be against it in the forums.

You guys ever watch Tanked on Animal Planet? Those guys are LOADING their tanks immediately after setup by using a Nitrifying Bacteria. Dr. Tim recommends you add fish IMMEDEDIATELY after adding his product to the tank, and even the Mr. Salt Water TV guy did the same thing I did, add a few clowns after putting in the product. You gotta figure its safe for the fish, especially the hardier species like clowns.
I can add some more live rock to the tank, but the main biological filtration is the wet-dry "bio wheel" in the sump, similar to the wet-dry bio-balls setup. Not really what I preferred, but this was the "package" that came with the tank from the fish store, which is a Marineland setup. The live rock in the tank was mainly for decoration and to give the future fish something to chew on. Its going to be a fish only tank.

So do you think I'm ready to add some more fish to the tank? To be on the safe side, how can I test my water for false readings?

Thanks again.

 

[Bifferwine]

Thanks for the comments guys. I kinda figured I would get an ear full for using live fish as most people seem to be against it in the forums.

You guys ever watch Tanked on Animal Planet? Those guys are LOADING their tanks immediately after setup by using a Nitrifying Bacteria. Dr. Tim recommends you add fish IMMEDEDIATELY after adding his product to the tank, and even the Mr. Salt Water TV guy did the same thing I did, add a few clowns after putting in the product. You gotta figure its safe for the fish, especially the hardier species like clowns.
I can add some more live rock to the tank, but the main biological filtration is the wet-dry "bio wheel" in the sump, similar to the wet-dry bio-balls setup. Not really what I preferred, but this was the "package" that came with the tank from the fish store, which is a Marineland setup. The live rock in the tank was mainly for decoration and to give the future fish something to chew on. Its going to be a fish only tank.

So do you think I'm ready to add some more fish to the tank? To be on the safe side, how can I test my water for false readings?

Thanks again.

The guys on Tanked have said in interviews that they add all the fish in for the TV show, then they take them out when filming is done and they allow the tank to cycle properly. It is misleading.

I can tell you from many years of experience and being on this forum that it is not safe for the fish to cycle using them. Using a product like you did helps, but adding 4 fish at once is never a good idea. You should only add one fish at a time, and then wait 3 to 4 weeks between new additions. So I would say no, your tank is not ready for any more fish.

And even if you don't see your parameters spike, the fact remains that 99% of the time, 4 clowns will not co-exist in the same tank together. They will fight.

Bioballs and a wet/dry cannot replace a sufficient amount of live rock. In fact, bioballs and wet/dry filtration systems are rarely ever used in saltwater; they tend to lead to poor water quality and algae problems.

 

[little_fish]

+1 Biffy

 

[Nonfamous]

Also remember that the guys on Tanked are a business. They are in it to make money AND make good TV. Not the best combination.

I've heard of Dr. Tim's stuff. Actually I posted asking about the Waste Away product. I never got a reply to the post so either it is untested by the hobbyist OR its no good. Either way I left it alone. Good tank maintenance will over come my issues in the long run anyway.

I too was sold bio balls when I got my system. Thanks to folks here and a LOT of reading, I ditched the idea. I'm glad I did. My tank was to be a FOWLR but is slowly becoming a reef. I'm sure most folks who start out FOWLR do the same thing. If you don't like the crowded look of a bunch of LR in your DT, simply put it in the sump out of sight.

I do not condone having multiple Clowns in a tank beyond a mated pair. I have seen it done successfully though. Most of the time it ends up with at least two of them dead though. In my case I have two clowns of differing species in my tank. This was unplanned and I have heard that they can not coexist. However, I have been lucky. Mine seem to get along fine. I hope that continues to be the case, but I do watch carefully for signs of aggressive behaviour.

As for cycling, I had a "soft" cycle with my tank. I used seasoned or cured LR. About 85 lbs. I added about another 35 lbs of dry rock to that as well as 55 lbs of dry, washed, sand. My Ammonia never went above 0.25 and it was there for only about 8 hours before all of my parameters were at zero. I was testing 3 times a day simply because I didn't know any better. Still, I waited another 9 days before I had the tests confirmed by 2 LFSs and I waited another week before I added any fish.

Does this mean I have had less issues than you might have? No, its simply another way of doing it. I didn't like the idea of potentially hurting a fish just to cycle the tank. I know LOTS of folks who use that method though.