what is the wierdest thing you have used to kick start your cycle?

Was just wondering, back in the late 80's when i worked a LFS we used to use raw burger, still seems kinda wierd to me, but the tanks never had issues.

 

1 Yellow Tail Damsel...alive

 

Old fish food. But I really wanted to pee in the tank to get the cycle started. Just couldn't figure out how to flush when I was done;D

 

i dont know about red meat being used. blended raw fish works better

 

Pee, for real

 

just some prawns nothing over the top.

 

Awe, thats nasty, and I didn't need to hear that! LOL

in my 16 I used an 4" angel from my wifes fresh water tank, and yes it had passed due to being mauled by its tank mates!

 

I have use Bo Peep Ammonia , Pee , a Chunk of hot dog and Brewers yeast and a old frozen fish fillet of flounder I found in my freezer hidden deep a sheet of paper from the bottom of a birds cage .Hell you can use cat carp it will all work to get a cycle started But the trick is to maintain that bacteria in a steady healthy colony that can grow as needed. And the moment it needs more of what you used and the food source is not there it will die off far faster then it grew.

I'll say this again you can use anything But you have no steady level bio load to keep the bacterias in a steady growing level bacteria will only stay with in the system to handle the amount of demand.. A single live fish does this.. If say you have a 5,000 system add a single fish it will only grow the exact amount of bacteria that is needed for that fish no more or less add another and the bacteria has to catch up remove it the bacteria dies off .

No system can store more bacteria then is needed a 5,000 or a 10 gallon system both will only have the correct amount of bacteria for that one fish no more or no less .. Thats why I use only a single little yellow tail damsel to cycle with. That way I have a steady naturally grown bacteria level and something to grow on . This is the short comings of using dead meat or ammonia.. Its never stable until you add the fish. This is where many find animal health issues with the fast quick dead meat cycling.

 

my brother used a gold fish.i just use live rock