Starting up a new tank question

[dkpate]

I know I need to get some bacteria from a previous fish tank into the new tank and get it going before I introduce the fish. I was wondering where I could get some "hardware" or gravel from someone elses fish tank, and I realized that last week we returned some catfish to the river that someone was keeping, and there is still about 10 gallons of the old water in the tank which also has gravel in it. My question is, can I use that gravel inside of some panty hose (I don't want it to stay in the tank since I bought some pool sand) to seed the tank? Thanks!

 

[spoonman]

If that tank hasnt had fish in it for a while the bacteria will be dead.

 

[mfdrookie516]

last week we returned some catfish to the river that someone was keeping

its a very bad idea to reintroduce fish to the wild after they have been kept in captivity. just keep that in mind in the future

 

[DragonFish71]

I have used gravel inside a cut up pair of pantyhose to seed our 10g when I changed it over to sand. Just make sure the pantyhose are clean (without soap residue too)

 

[epsolon77]

Gravel in pantyhose should work, with the previously stated condition of the panty hose not having any additional chemicals in it.

There are some bacteria cultures sold at pet stores as well that are designed to speed up the start of tanks. These are not nearly as good as an established tank's filter media. I would talk to any LFS to see if they have any filter media you can swipe to help cycle your tank if you are concerned about how long the 10g has been sitting.

Hey if you are near Frederick Maryland I'll give you a good chunk of bacteria loaded media! Eh always worth a shot.

 

[dkpate]

MFD- The catfish were taken from the wild by a kid and he wasn't feeding them, so I put them back in the river when he wasn't home, they have a better chance in there I think. The tank with the gravel has not had any fish in it for about 5 days. The problem with being able to just hop over to a pet store and get gravel from them is I live 100 miles from the nearest pet store, so it is not something I can just take 15 minutes out of the day to do lol, it is an all day excursion. I got my fish a new house today which is more enclosed (since he is light sensitive and I noticed he was trying to get up in his old house as far as he could go) and was wondering if after a few days, I would be able to use his old house to seed the new tank? Sorry if I am being redundant, but I want to make sure every detail is correct so I don't harm my fish in any way. I will post something on my FaceBook and see if any of my friends have some plants or something that has been in one of their tanks.

 

[epsolon77]

a few days should not be a problem. The bacteria will also seed themselves even if you had a sterilized tank. They seem to show up everywhere no matter what, kinda like alge. So preseeding your tank speeds up the process, but is not necessary. Do whatever you can with seeding, like from your other tanks, and test you water for the ammonia drop, then you will know you are ok.