This product works amazingly well for being a 'quick fix' for cycling, but make sure you SHAKE the bottle... shake it, shake it, shake it.
Day 1 you'll (shake the dickens out of it) dump in a ton of the stuff as directed, by day 2 I've seen the ammonia spike that signifies the beginning of cycling. Day 3 it says you're done... and you have cycled the aquarium... ammonia and nitrite drop to zero and nitrate is at a safe level (under 5 ppm) by day 4 in my experience, but when you add fish, don't be surprised if you see a 'mini-cycle' where the ammonia and nitrite spike a bit. The tank and fish are fine but consult a forum or fish store if you're worried. One review on here stated they tried replacing all of their water to fix an algae problem?... not what this product is for. This runs through the 1-4 week process of initially cycling the tank within 3 days, doesn't make it impossible to make mistakes.
I will say I have some reservations about the "immediate stocking" part... I would suggest setting the aquarium up, pop an aquatic plant in there and maybe a pinch of fish flake (for some organic matter to break down) and use Cycle for the 3 days, THEN introduce fish SLOWLY, just a couple at a time if they're small, for bigger fish like cichlids, only one at a time... unless you have a very well established tank, dunking a bunch of fish will spike ammonia to really dangerous levels and might kill all of your fish. This being said, I have thrown 3, 2" fish into a 10 gallon tank of treated water, added Cycle, and it did work... it just isn't exactly humane, as the cycling can be hard on the fish's gills, slime coat, etc. This was about 2 months ago and all of those fish are still fine.
API Stress Zyme8 OZ. is another version of this product, but does it over the course of 2 weeks. I've used it as well and it seems to do the job well also, so if 3 days sounds too good to be true (though somehow it is true), you may want to give it a try (I've used Cycle and Stress Zyme together in factdidn't change anything, Cycle did a 3 day cycle and Stress Zyme caused it to cycle again so I wouldn't recommend mixing them.
Essentially, despite what so many fish fans say, this stuff does work... but only if you shake the heck out of the bottle (it stirs up the bacteria). I have used it, currently use it, and will continue to use it both for setting up new tanks and keeping the beneficial bacteria level up in my established tanks (I have 4, 3 fresh, 1 salt). Follow the directions and remember to SHAKE, SHAKE, SHAKE that bottle!
I had tried a competing product, by Tetra, and did not have good results. Ammonia stayed high, algae bloomed, fish died. Went to my local fish store and the kind lady suggested this. So glad she did. Within days I had ammonia dropping, nitrite rising, then dropping and nitrate rising. My tank was cycled in three days. I was able to add more fish a couple days later and didn't have a spike of ammonia.
I remember the old days of having to wait a month, or more, for a new tank to cycle. This is so much better, and more humane for the fish, too. I recommend this Nutrafin Cycle!
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I setup a brand new 75g, let it run for 2-3 days before I went an bought 2 jaguars(3"). Before I left out to go get the jags I shook the Nutrafin cycle bottle for 2mins (arm was super tired) and added the first treatment. I followed the directions on the back to a T and I never had a problem. It's been about a month now and everything is still going well, I just add Nutrafin cycle once a week and with water changes. I think I like this stuff better than stress zyme (if they even serve the same purpose). I got Nutrafin cycle from amazon.com almost %50 cheaper than what my LFS was selling it for.
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This should be one of the first products you buy when setting up an aquarium. This has the good bacteria you need to help speed along your cycle process. You could do it the long way but try this you won't regret it.
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I'm very new to keeping aquatic pets, but after over a month after starting, my fish, shrimp, snail and plants are healthy and the tank is stable
I got a 5 gallon acrylic tank kit with some substrate and a rock and started dosing with Cycle from day 1. After a day or two, I bought some marimo moss and a couple of red shrimp from a local shop and added them into my new tank. Within a week, after doing partial water changes every other day, it seemed like my tank finished cycling with trace amounts of ammonia, no detectable nitrites and a build up of nitrates.
Now it seems that without any cycling product, it typically takes about a month to fully cycle a new aquarium. It took me a week with Cycle and no algae bloom!
I do add a little bit of Cycle in after doing water changes, but only because I have so much left (I think I bought the 16 oz bottle) and its shelf life is relatively short due to live bacteria inside. I don't think it's necessary, but I did recently buy a new filter and it certainly didn't hurt.
Definitely worth checking out.
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This was my first car seat and I got my money's worth out of it. We travel 7hrs every 3 months and I bought this for my cockapoo puppy. He used it comfortably until he was 14lbs. He is now 2.5 yrs. old and 20lbs eventhough outgrown the seat for sleeping comfortably he continued to ride in the booster but he needed the extra space to stretch and laydown so we recently upgraded. Sadly, it is a booster seat rather than a console. The console benefit is he sat closer to me and would lay his head on my shoulder while I drove. He could sleep and sit it in for the longest times and was comfortable without complaints. Worth the money and a space saver.
