Does RightNow! Bacteria really work??

Question

After setting up the tank with saltwater, instead of waiting about 6 weeks Id like to speed up the process to cycle the tank. Does RightNow! Bacteria and Tri-Base Pelletized Carbon really work??

**If you know another product that could work better to cycle my tank in a short amount of time please help!! =)

Answer 1

Personally I'm not a fan of most bacterial additives for tanks, either freshwater or salt. Yes, many people have had good success with them and there is plenty of support for the assumption that they will work assuming of course you get a quality product that has not expired. There are also plenty of people that report having problems after using one of these products most of which are probably based on the product being dead by the time they get it, but roller coaster rides of cycling are reported from time to time after the use of these additives.

Personally I favor taking your time and allowing the tank to cycle without use of such additives. In my opinion it seems to lead to a more stable tank in both the short and long terms. Just my opinion though.

MM

Answer 2

The only thing I know that actually works is BioSpira. It is a refrigerated product. The only times it has failed to work is when it has not been stored properly in either shipping to the LFS or if put on shelves instead of refrigerated. The bacteria are live and the correct ones.
Some of the other products (especially CYCLE) may add bacteria and help with stress the fish go through during the cycle but don't actually cycle your tank.

Answer 3

In my experience no bottled bacteria works as well as actually adding live bacteria to your tank directly from another mature tank. It works especially well if you can get filter media from an established filter and put it in yours - the more you can get, the quicker the cycle will go. By doing this you are adding the bacteria for both ammonia and nitrite. By using media from one of my tanks in a newly set up tank I've managed to skip the cycle period entirely. If you don't know anybody with a tank perhaps the fish store can help you out.

I don't see the point of going through an entire cycle and stressing the fish when bacteria can be easy to get.

I've tried Hagens 'Cycle' and it isn't worth the bottle it comes in.

Answer 4

In my opinion, the best thing to add is some live rock. It's already got live, growing bacteria.

With bottled additives, you have to consider how much is actually alive - some are encysted bacteria that can take a while to grow, plus if they've been sitting on a store shelf for a long while, there may not be much alive to begin with.

Don't be in a hurry for saltwater - you'll only end up with problems.

Answer 5

Sometimes the fish stores will sell you a dirty filter pad from their filter I buy them, they put them in a plastic bag filled with salt water from the tank they came out of,make sure you check to see if all the fish in the tank your filter pad comes from are healthy,and if so, take the filter pad home immediatley and wash the pad out inside your fish tank,it will look bad at first,but the tank will clear up pretty quickly,this will give you about a 3 week jump start. See filter pads are loaded with beneficial bacteria and are great for speeding up the process.

Answer 6

Lol the bacteria itself works, but you dont know if its fresh. Maybe your supplier has had it up on the shelf for like a year and the bacteria have all died. If it is fresh it will ASSIST completely cycle your tank. If you use this product your cycle could be reduced to a week maybe 2 instead of the hole 6 weeks. so ya if i were you i would use it. Try buying stresszyme it works better

Answer 7

I used a product called Cycle. It contains the beneficial bacteria needed to cycle your tank. I've only heard good things about this product.