Gonna love this...

[Lexus]

I was over cleaning the tanks and doing the tank maintence in Pets this week and found out we (Walmart) will be carrying Cycle now. Anywho... just some news

[TheOldSalt]

Oh well, better than nothing.

Oh, wait; it's not.

I'm a WalMart drone myself now, sad to say. I had to do SOMEthing. Things are so bad around here that even the unemployment office is closing this month. ( seriously )
I've started at the very bottom as a stockclerk, but things are already in motion to get me to pets. We get our supercenter next year, and I want to oversee the setup for the fishtanks. Who knows? Maybe someday I'll wind up in Bentonville as an executroid in charge of fixing everything that's wrong with the WalMart ways of fish care.
Yeah, right... Oh well, a guy can dream.

[Osiris]

like as in stuff to cycle a tank? maybe they should practice it on their tank setup's on the new stores lol still remember seeing lots of dead fish...

[Larry-T]

Cycle is worse than useless, since it gives people a false sense that their tank is ready for fish.

But, then again, that's China/WalMart

[hail_sniper]

walmart would be the worst..... i wouldnt even want to work there, the ones near me arent even equipped well enough to provide care for them, so when i can im gonna work at the petco near my house, they have the equipment, but not the brains, lol

[fish_doc]

We stopped at petsmart for bedding for our rats. When we were asking the guy in small pets about bedding for our rats he suggested pine shavings. We told him that causes respritory problems in rats. The guy there said he had a pet rat but it died from respritory problems. We then told him if he would have taken him to the vet the have meds to help them when they develop this but he responded well that would cost money. I dont want pets that cost money.

To have someone that like that working small pets is a shame. In fact to have them working there at all is a shame.

[sbsociety]

Wow. I'd have said something. He's lucky you weren't me!

[fishfreaks]

Forgive me for asking, but what is cycle?

[ALFA WOLF]

isnt that were u take out certain percent of the water and replace it with new water.

[Lisachromis]

Cycle is a product that is added to a tank to supposedly add (the proper) bacteria to speed up the nitrogen cycle in a tank.

[ALFA WOLF]

??? Isnt nitrogen bad... I sound like a totaly newb. So while im at it why would u want to cycle nitrogen faster.

[shev]

the "good" bacteria would convert the amonia to nitrites, then to nitrates. nitrates being the least toxic, followed by nitrites. the nitrates are then removed with water changes and plants. so the nitrogen cycle gets rid of the real toxic stuff, and replaces it with much less toxic stuff.

[mlefev]

I've used a similar product. It does work, but you have to keep up the addition of the product continually through the first week, and monitor the spikes in chemical exchanges just as you would with a regular cycling process. It still took 2 weeks for my tank to become stable even with the additive. As soon as I threw in fish and plants, it took another week to balance out to the bio-load. It's stable now (except for the ammonia in my tap-water) But just as with any cycling tank, you have to watch ammonia, nitites and nitrates.

I used a product called biozyme to cycle mine. It did reduce the cycle time, but you can't just toss a bit of the chemical in, add fish, and expect everything to be perfect. And because it causes a slightly unnatural balance in the water, you have to add it about once per week for at least 3 weeks after introducing fish to have a hope of keeping them all alive.

My fish are all fine, but I was testing the water 3x a week after adding them to the tank, and doing water changes to neutralize the less desirable chemicals. I'm down to 2x per week and have no problems (except the ammonia which I thank my city water for).

I might reccommend the cycling products to someone who really knows about chemical balance, etc. But next time I set up a tank I will definately let nature play its role in things...it made me anxious to wonder if the chemical cycle would really work.

But on that note. I'd lost fish before when I did a natural cycle within a week of adding them, and this time I haven't lost any. So I think it all depends on how closely you pay attention to your tank. No matter what people say, they don't run themselves.