Nitrogen Cycle Promoters

[BiochemRobyn]

I was really curious if bacterial additives actually work to reduce the amount of time that you have to wait for your tank to cycle. There is one called RightNow! Bacteria that claims to enhance the nitrogen cycle of an exsisting tank or jump start the cycle on a new tank. More than that, your tank is supposed to fully cycle in about six hours. Has anyone had any experience with this?

Here's the link:
http://www.hdltd.com/products/p_rightnow.html

Secondly, I'm concerned that unless you have a wet/dry filter with bioballs or something similar, this product won't do any good since all of the bacteria are aerobic.

[forenpa1]

the best way is still patience, patience and a little more patience !

[rihanssu]

i wouldn't. i tried them once and i got a bad spike anyway. just take your time =)

[gogregerson]

Save your money and let it happen on it's own.

[armagedon48]

in this hobby, only bad things happen fast. so its probably true that you will have better results if you just wait it out.

[Wetone]

Try marineland's Bio-Spira for marine.

[rihanssu]

Originally Posted by Wetone

Try marineland's Bio-Spira for marine.

thats what i have used. i think people seem to forget that throwing live bactira into a tank with nothing for them to eat just makes them die and you got to start over agian.

[BiochemRobyn]

I know that waiting is a good option as so many people are quick to say.

However, with so many people complaining about how cycling takes 3 to 6 weeks, what if there is a better way? I am suprised at how many people are quick to discredit these additives.

Were there any other side effects to the additives, granted the bacteria had enough nitrogen-containing compounds to eat?

[epidemic]

Best N cycle promoter is LR. IME if you have at least 1lb/gallon of live rock you shouldnt have to wait more than a week to cycle for corals, maybe two for fish. I just set up a new tank and I moved all my corals over after about a week of it running. It is cycling now so I have diatoms and that crap, but all the corals open up and look happy. I am still waiting to put fish in. After a week of it cycling I put the preverbial canary in the tank (I use zoas) withing a 30mins it was open. The next day it wasnt dead,m so I threw in about a dozen other zoa frags. I did this first with zoas and then with LPS and lastly with SPS

[Energy]

Or you could add sugar as a carbon source to fuel the bacteria bloom. Approximately 1 teaspoon per 100 gallons of actual water then cut back to 1/4 teasspoon for maintenace until parameters are stable. Beware this increases all bacteria in your system- Good and bad. This method has been known to drop nitrates from 40 ppm to less than 5 ppm in two days.

[Superman]

Fritzyme is what I have used, works quite well.