Activ-betta gravel

[Nothingness]

I bought this at my local Big Al's for $3 on the off chance that the instant cycle it claims to give was true. After putting it into a new tank I had Nitrates present the next day when I tested the water. I will keep monitoring the levels and keep you informed on how the cycle is going but looks like it was worth the $3 investment for the instant cycle.

Anyone else seen or tried this stuff?

http://www.activbetta.com/

[labloverl]

I've never seen that before, but I would to hear what others have to say.

[mahi]

This is very interesting! Let us know if it works for you, please.

[Matilda]

I've been dying to try this out but wasn't sure how good it was. Thanks for posting this!

[Nothingness]

I am going to do another parameters testing tonight to see how the levels are before I do my scheduled water change. I will post up the results after its done

[Nothingness]

So I added one bag of the Activ Betta gravel a week ago right after I set up my new 10g tank. Its heated to 80 degrees with silk plants, a terra cotta pot, gravel and an intank sponge filter. I tested the water the next day and had these totals
PH 7.5
Ammonia 0.50ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 0.5ppm

I then added our new betta charlie to the tank the following day.

1 week later I tested the water before my water change and came up with these totals.
PH 7.5
Ammonia 0.25ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 0.5ppm

So after a week I have seen a change in the ammonia levels drop from 0.50ppm to 0.25ppm. Seems like something may be working with this gravel, assuming my test results are correct. I will test again in a couple days and see if there is any change.

[Matilda]

Keep us posted!

[Myates]

You really should of done some water changes before adding your new guy in.. the ammonia is too high for him at .25.. part of cycling is the frequent water changes needed.. to me those quick cycles are just gimmicks, personally would rather let it do a natural cycle (which it would do with a fish in) on it's own.

[Nothingness]

I should state also that there is ammonia present in the tap water, so the readings that are showing up after using Prime for conditioning is prob just ammonium.