Adding Bacteria in a new aquarium?

[Komodo]

When you set up a new aquarium, do you add some kind of bacteria product in it?

The aquarium sales person said to put in goldfish for a couple of weeks before adding the Cichlids, is this better?

 

[treemanone2003]

Some do and some don't. Personally, I use media from an existing filter or a sponge that's inside one of my tanks. Here's an excellent link from within to help you decide on what path you would like to go with. http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...ou-get-started-with-your-aquarium-154837.html


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[BBradbury]

Tank Cycling

When you set up a new aquarium, do you add some kind of bacteria product in it?

The aquarium sales person said to put in goldfish for a couple of weeks before adding the Cichlids, is this better?

Hello Kom...

Check with that sales person and see if they can let you have some used filter media and a little water from one of their tanks. Get it home asap and put it into the filter on your tank. Presto, instant tank cycling. Get some floating plants into the tank too and let every thing run for a day or two and then add fish very slowly, you don't want to cause a water chemistry problem.

B

 

[Fishfur]

Based on an article or post I read not long ago most of the 'bottled bacteria' products don't work that well. There was one, called Bio Spira, no longer made under that name, that did work, and it's under a new brand name but I can't remember what the new name is, sorry.

The choice to cycle using fish, or using only pure ammonia, is yours to make. Personally, I prefer not to use fish, because if you make a mistake or don't do enough water changes, the fish are the ones to suffer the exposure to ammonia. If you use only ammonia, no livestock will suffer if a mistake is made.

It can take awhile for a cycle to be complete. Once it is complete, you must add fish slowly, as the bacteria, [BB, for beneficial bacteria], take time to increase their numbers to handle the extra load of ammonia produced by adding more fish. Adding all the fish at once usually overwhelms the filter's BB and the fish get ammonia poisoning. Patience is the very best friend you have when starting a new tank.

If, however, you know someone who has a tank running, or can get some media from a local store perhaps, it's possible to jump start a cycle. You either add some well used media from a well established filter to the new filter, or pour the cleaning water from a well established filter into a new one. The cleaning water.. [ I call it squeezings, or rinsings ], would be very dirty looking, containing all the matter the filter had removed from its tank, but that will also contain a large number of BB, who will colonize the new filter.

If you can get squeezings, or rinsings, or used media, you can add a couple of small fish right away. You still test, of course, to be sure all the levels are as they should be.. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate <20 ppm.. but it should be fine done this way. I start every new tank by 'seeding' the new filter with squeezings. For sponge filters, you can soak the sponge in squeezings and give it a few good squeezes before you put it in the tank. May take a bit longer in the case of a sponge filter.

 

[apr28]

You're not putting the goldfish and cichlids together right?

 

[Komodo]

You're not putting the goldfish and cichlids together right?

No, I will be bringing the goldfish back to the shop.

 

[Fishfur]

Even if English was your first language, 'spellcheck' is making terrible substitutions for us all, so don't worry .

 

[PNWaquarist]

Based on an article or post I read not long ago most of the 'bottled bacteria' products don't work that well. There was one, called Bio Spira, no longer made under that name, that did work, and it's under a new brand name but I can't remember what the new name is, sorry.

BioSpira was invented by Tim Hovanec when he worked at Marineland. Since then, Tetra purchased that division of Marineland and sells BioSpira under the brand name SafeStart. Hovanec went on to form Dr. Tim's Aquatics and sells a bottled bacteria called Dr. Tim's One & Only.

From what I've read, these two products are the only bottled bacteria that work reliably. I've never used SafeStart, but used Dr. Tim's One & Only and it worked really well. Cycled my tank in 10 days. Dr. Tim's also sells ammonium chloride solution, which is much easier to use as an ammonia source than the caustic, janitorial-strength stuff that people get from hardware stores. I'm surprised that the other aquatics companies don't sell it, as it can't be patented and it's dirt-cheap to make.

That said, I agree with others that adding filter media from an established tank is the best way to go. (Mostly because it's the cheapest way to go.)

 

[Fishfur]

That's the name I couldn't remember.. thanks for that. Interesting what happens when one company buys another, but often frustrating for those who come to rely on some product or other.

 

[trennamw]

BioSpira was invented by Tim Hovanec when he worked at Marineland. Since then, Tetra purchased that division of Marineland and sells BioSpira under the brand name SafeStart. Hovanec went on to form Dr. Tim's Aquatics and sells a bottled bacteria called Dr. Tim's One & Only.



From what I've read, these two products are the only bottled bacteria that work reliably. I've never used SafeStart, but used Dr. Tim's One & Only and it worked really well. Cycled my tank in 10 days. Dr. Tim's also sells ammonium chloride solution, which is much easier to use as an ammonia source than the caustic, janitorial-strength stuff that people get from hardware stores. I'm surprised that the other aquatics companies don't sell it, as it can't be patented and it's dirt-cheap to make.



That said, I agree with others that adding filter media from an established tank is the best way to go. (Mostly because it's the cheapest way to go.)

That's all really good to know.

I've used the Tetra product, I suspect the lack of results had to do with how it had been handled. At least from Dr Tims there are fewer unknowns. I wish I'd known about his stuff before I bought a gallon of ACE Ammonia I'll never use.

Someone above referred to adding media as "instant" cycling. I wouldn't call it instant. What I've seen here over the past 9 months and what I've found myself is that sometimes it is instant, sometimes it is about 10 days to build enough bacteria for a full bioload.


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[Komodo]

BioSpira was invented by Tim Hovanec when he worked at Marineland. Since then, Tetra purchased that division of Marineland and sells BioSpira under the brand name SafeStart. Hovanec went on to form Dr. Tim's Aquatics and sells a bottled bacteria called Dr. Tim's One & Only.

From what I've read, these two products are the only bottled bacteria that work reliably. I've never used SafeStart, but used Dr. Tim's One & Only and it worked really well. Cycled my tank in 10 days. Dr. Tim's also sells ammonium chloride solution, which is much easier to use as an ammonia source than the caustic, janitorial-strength stuff that people get from hardware stores. I'm surprised that the other aquatics companies don't sell it, as it can't be patented and it's dirt-cheap to make.

That said, I agree with others that adding filter media from an established tank is the best way to go. (Mostly because it's the cheapest way to go.)

You say that your tank was cycled in ten days. How do I know when my tank is cycled or ready for my fish?

 

[larochem595]

Here was my experience with bottled bacteria:
Every time I used it, the ammonia would start to come down. Then, if I didn't add more bacteria the cycle would crash and I'd have to start all over. I suspect that it took me equally as long to get the cycle started with the bacteria as it would've without it. Although, I will say that I never saw the nitrites in my tank go up so maybe the bottled bacteria did work... The best thing to do is find gravel or media from someone who has an established, well-maintained tank.

You say that your tank was cycled in ten days. How do I know when my tank is cycled or ready for my fish?

You'll know when its cycled when ammonia and nitrites read 0 and the nitrates begin to climb. Then, your ammonia is being converted to nitrite and the nitrite is being converted to nitrate.

Happy fishkeeping =)
Michelle

 

[ppo8820]

The fish store person was basically telling you to add goldfish to sacrifice to the tank cycle. If you dont keep up on constant water changes and testing, those goldfish will die and even if they do live, the process is hard on them. Its an old practice to use "lesser" fish to start a cycle, but I for one am against it. Every life is important and I wouldnt be comfortable adding any fish just to get my bacteria going. Research fishless cycling and follow those directions...................its something you can learn and use for life.

 

[riddick]

Find a good LFS

I would never use fish to cycle a tank.

I asked my LFS to let me know when he was changing his filter media, a couple of days later the phone rang and he had a small bag of media waiting for me, best thing ever, just placed some of it in my filter and washed out the rest in the tank water, looked awful but did the job, 8 days later my water chem was spot on, waited a few more days to be sure.

 

[jrc0528]

My first tank was a 20G with 1 goldfish, a medium sized one round 8 months old that spent its summer in a small outdoor pond. I fought ammonia levels above the card readings for a couple weeks despite daily water changes. It took 4-6 weeks for the cycle to finally settle down and the ammonia and nitrItes to drop to <1ppm.

I'll never do a fish-in cycle again, it was terrible! I have since started my 75G and more recently a 20G with absolutely no cycling; both were started using a Lee's Corner filter 2/3 full of Seachem BioMatrix and 1/3 full of filter floss (filter floss was the top layer). This corner filter was placed either in the goldfish tank directly (the 75G startup) or last time in the 5G sump for the goldfish tank. Both times I left the new biofilter run for 3+ weeks to build up a strong bacteria colony before dropping it and a few fish into the newly setup tanks.

I closely monitored the A, nI, & nA levels in both new tanks for several weeks. In the 75G the A and the nI levels rose to 1 - 1.5 ppm for a few days, then returned to 0. In the latest 20G the a & nI levels have remained undetectable, this biofilter cycled longer, spending 6-8 weeks in the goldfish sump.

I'm now keeping one Lee's setup and one smaller sponge running in the sump just in case I need them. I also leave a sponge just float around in the back of the 75G, used that one in my quarantine tank last week with the new scissortails I bought.

One a related note, I now swear by the small Seachem Ammonia Alert card; It hangs inside the tank via a suction cup and the color dot indicates the ammonia level very similarly to the API drop test. I've compared it to the API readings and find it's quite accurate. I now have two of them, and place one in any fresh tank setup, esp the quarantine tank.

 

[PNWaquarist]

You say that your tank was cycled in ten days. How do I know when my tank is cycled or ready for my fish?

Good question. I'm defining "cycled" as the BB colony being able to fully covert at least 2 ppm ammonia to nitrate within 24 hours. One's tank can handle a light stocking at that point.


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[trennamw]

My first tank was a 20G with 1 goldfish, a medium sized one round 8 months old that spent its summer in a small outdoor pond. I fought ammonia levels above the card readings for a couple weeks despite daily water changes. It took 4-6 weeks for the cycle to finally settle down and the ammonia and nitrItes to drop to <1ppm.

I'll never do a fish-in cycle again, it was terrible! I have since started my 75G and more recently a 20G with absolutely no cycling; both were started using a Lee's Corner filter 2/3 full of Seachem BioMatrix and 1/3 full of filter floss (filter floss was the top layer). This corner filter was placed either in the goldfish tank directly (the 75G startup) or last time in the 5G sump for the goldfish tank. Both times I left the new biofilter run for 3+ weeks to build up a strong bacteria colony before dropping it and a few fish into the newly setup tanks.

I closely monitored the A, nI, & nA levels in both new tanks for several weeks. In the 75G the A and the nI levels rose to 1 - 1.5 ppm for a few days, then returned to 0. In the latest 20G the a & nI levels have remained undetectable, this biofilter cycled longer, spending 6-8 weeks in the goldfish sump.

I'm now keeping one Lee's setup and one smaller sponge running in the sump just in case I need them. I also leave a sponge just float around in the back of the 75G, used that one in my quarantine tank last week with the new scissortails I bought.

One a related note, I now swear by the small Seachem Ammonia Alert card; It hangs inside the tank via a suction cup and the color dot indicates the ammonia level very similarly to the API drop test. I've compared it to the API readings and find it's quite accurate. I now have two of them, and place one in any fresh tank setup, esp the quarantine tank.

I like the seachem ammonia alert too but Im pretty sure it measures differently from the API test. This is on purpose. The API test measures total ammonia and the seachem stick on measures toxic ammonia.


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[Fishfur]

Filters vary, like any living system, so I suspect it depends on a few factors, how quickly you'll get cycled using a seeding from an established filter. If I'm going to set up a new filter, unless it is an emergency, I clean a filter that's been allowed to go without cleaning for awhile longer than usual. I use the smallest amount of water I can, and squeeze out as much crud as I can, from every piece of media in the filter. Then I pour the resulting squeezings into the new filter.

If I'm using a piece of media to seed, which I usually don't, I try to make it as big a piece as I can. So if the old filter has a chunk of floss on top, I'll take half of it for the new filter, and top up the old filter with new floss.

Testing is really the only way to know for sure whether you're cycled or not, and I usually do test to make sure the filter can handle whatever I propose to put into the tank it's on. The quickest I've had a tank cycle was a 5G, overnight, pretty much. I had a 29G that was in the middle of a steep nitrite spike, back when I first got back into fish keeping again, and I got filter squeezings from another hobbyist, and the spike was down to 0 in 36 hours. Tank was cycled in 36 hours.. the tests showed 0, 0 and about 20 ppm. The filter the squeezings came from hadn't been cleaned in awhile, so it had a lot to contribute I guess.