Does bottled nitrifying bacteria really works?

[Zest2night]

Recently i bought a bottle of fritz zyme 9 and added the stated amount into my cycling tank . I did a ammonia test after 24 hours . But what i notice is that the ammonia level is stuck at the range of 0.25 to 0.5 , same as before adding the bacteria in . I thought the bacteria is suppose to eliminate the ammonia? Im new to the hobby so i dont really know how long it will take or if its even working.. the instructions stated that it is safe to instantly add fish to the tank? Im wondering if this means if i use this bottle of bacteria , i have to add a hardy fish to do a fish-in cycle? Im so confused right now

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[Fjdam]

Bro.. relax.. this hobby is all about patience.. there is no instant result.. typically cycle stage will take about more than a month to complete and stabilize.. do not rush.. things might crash..

Throw small chunk of prawn.. nature will take its place to spike ur ammonia>nitrite> nitrate..

[Ethan Lin]

Yup, agreed. A typical bottle of bacteria takes a few weeks to lower ammonia and a month or two to finish the nitrogen cycle. The first fish you add have to be well after the cycle and continue to add 1 fish every week or every other week afterwards. Take it slow to stock your tank.

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[Ethan Lin]

And actually, you just have to test for nitrite. That works for me anyways. Once the nitrite has spiked and reached zero, the cycle is over. As when the nitrite reaches zero, the ammonia is also zero as well. But initially there would be no nitrite as the ammonia is till converting to nitrite.

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[Fjdam]

Yes.. to breakdown nitrate is what of us trying to do.. i would love to have denitrifying bacteria.. but it would take atlesst 6 mth i heard to cultivate them.. i stacked some marine pure block hoping they would help to lower nitrate..the fastest way is Wc.. or carbon dosing.. took me another 1mths for my nitrate to reach almost

[Ethan Lin]

Yes.. to breakdown nitrate is what of us trying to do.. i would love to have denitrifying bacteria.. but it would take atlesst 6 mth i heard to cultivate them.. i stacked some marine pure block hoping they would help to lower nitrate..the fastest way is Wc.. or carbon dosing.. took me another 1mths for my nitrate to reach almost

Stacking marine pure would not help very much as denitrifying bacteria needs low oxygen and low flow but marine pure is too porous. A 3 to 4 inch deep rock rubble in the sump can do better that marine pure blocks. Or deep sand beds in the sump with some macro algae.

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[Ethan Lin]

But nitrifying bacteria is everywhere and grows really fast, so trying to culture denitrifying bacteria needs specific requirements so that nitrifying bacteria do not colonise the area meant for denitrifying bacteria, but marine pure blocks have more chance cultivating nitrifying than denitrifying bacteria.

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