*PLEASE READ* TO ALL NEW JELLYFISH TANK OWNERS:

If you are setting up a new jellyfish tank, please be aware that you may have been misled about how to properly cycle your aquarium.  

If you have been instructed to “add a Bio-Starter and wait 10-14 days for the tank to cycle,” you have been misinformed and any jellyfish you add to your tank will not survive more than a week. 

Here's why:

Once you add "good bacteria" like the Bio-Starter, to your aquarium you must also feed that bacteria or it will starve and die off during the 10-14 day wait period. "Good bacteria" need a food source in order to live and unless you give it an ammonia source (the good bacteria's food of choice), it will die and not be present in your aquarium by the time you receive your first set of jellyfish.  

So, if you follow the incorrect instructions you were given, when you add the jellyfish and start to feed them jellyfish food, naturally-occurring ammonia will begin to accumulate in your water, but there will be no "good bacteria" alive to eat the ammonia and eliminate it from the water. QUICK RECAP: ammonia builds up—no bacteria are present to eat it—and the water becomes toxic with ammonia and begins to deform and kill your jellyfish.  

The only way to prevent this from happening is to properly cycle your aquarium for 4-6 weeks. Please consider signing up for our Fish-less Cycling Program before receiving any jellyfish. It is a fish-LESS cycle, meaning "without fish" in your tank. Do not cycle your aquarium with jellyfish in it. The ammonia is toxic to jellyfish and all aquatic life. This is not a jellyfish-specific issue. All new aquariums must be cycled for a minimum of 4 weeks to ensure it is biologically ready for live animals. Google it. It's just nature. 

SO, if you have added a Bio-Starter to your aquarium and have waited 10-14 days (or longer) without feeding it, you will need to get more Bio-Starter as it has died off by now. Once you get more Bio-Starter, please add it again to the aquarium along with a small piece of raw fish or shrimp (a nickel-sized piece per 10g of aquarium water) to your filter area. It will start to decompose and create the necessary ammonia that the "good bacteria" from the Bio-Starter will happily feed on. This will start the cycling process. 

Also, get an API Master Saltwater Test Kit to test for ammonia and nitrite once a week and record your findings. You do not need to test for nitrate (nitr-A-te with an "A") as it is not important during the cycling process. Only ammonia and nitrite (nitr-I-te with an "I") are important and worth watching.

For full instructions and detailed explanation, read our blog post Everything You Need to Know About Cycling New Jellyfish Aquariums only on our MoonJellyfishBlog.com!

If this applies to you, we are more than happy to hold off on shipping your jellyfish order until your tank is completely cycled and ready!