Bacteria Starter Question

[Two Heart]

Hello all

I jumped into this hobby blindly trying to help my kids get over some kittens we had to re home. Sounds strange I know, long story. Anyhow, FF 3 weeks and a bit of research... I have a 10 gallon tank stocked with one Silver Molly, one Lyretail Molly, and three Neon Tetras. They all seem to be doing OK. I purchased a bubble wall to ensure enough oxygen in the water. PH is usually right around 7.2. And water temp at 78F. I bought some conditioner and some Nitrifying Bacteria starter. Also purchased an API Freshwater master kit.

I have been doing 50% daily to bi-daily water changes depending on my readings. I have been adding the conditioner at every water change.

First question... Should I be adding the bacteria starter with every water change as well? I am confused on this part. The bottle says to add it whenever you do a water change, doing a filter change, or adding new fish. However, I have been reading online that a bacteria starter should only be used during the initial fill up of a new tank.

Second question... Approximately how long does a fish-in cycle take? From what I've read, it seems a fishless cycle would be much quicker as you can keep the ammonia in the tank for the bacteria to feed off of and go forth smoothly with the cycle. Where as with a fish-in cycle I am changing the water so often, it seems that the cycle could take forever.

Thank you in advance!

 

[GuppyGuy333]

Well in a perfect world you would have probably waited before adding fish. But you said you jumped in the hobby blindly so that is understandable. At least you are doing your research and add water conditioner (you would be surprised how many people don't and then wonder what is going wrong)

I think you should probably upgrade your tank to a larger size if that is realistic for you. Mollies like being in groups and neon tetras like being in semi-large schools. Plus mollies from my experience are hungry little fat kids that like to poop a lot. Also the bigger your tank the more stable your water parameters and you have the excuse to add more fish haha. you have less swings in chemistry if you have a bigger tank (its a lot easier and more forgiving)

Do you have a filter? because that is a big place for bacteria to hang on to especially in the beginning. it also would help serve the purpose that your air stone is doing. for such a small tank I really don't think you need one unless you don't have a filter.

I can't really answer your cycle time question because i think it varies on the tank. but i do think you are doing too many water changes and too big of water changes. I don't think you would be getting accurate readings because the water chemistry is being changed so often. Also i have been told that it takes about three days after a water change (granted this is for larger tanks) for your tank to stabilize itself for you to get an accurate reading on its true value for many of its values.

As for the bacteria booster/starter: right now you should be adding it because you are doing so many water changes and i don't think your tank is cycled.
I highly recommend the product Stability. it has explicit instructions and it even has directions about adding it to a fish tank that has not cycled yet.
I add bacteria booster whenever I add another fish to help boost the bacteria that is already there. I don't really do it when I do water changes. but i do add some if I clean my filter.

I hope I helped. Good luck

 

[tropical-fish]

Seems like you've done quite a lot of research already. Although I like the idea of a fishless cycle I don't quite have the patience to look at an empty tank for weeks.

I imagine that you have a filter on there already. If not a small HOB (hang on the back) filter is good as it won't take up space in the tank.

I agree that you can cut back on the water changes. Around 20% every other day should be enough. However it's important that you feed lightly to minimize excess waste until the tank is cycled. I would imagine that it'll take about 4-6 weeks to cycle.

Good luck!

 

[HooKooDooKu]

You need to do water changes as fast as what ever is needed to avoid nitrates and nitrites from getting too high. So you simply need to get a test kit (liquid, not strips) and see how long you can go between PWC before the levels get too high.

My first fish tank was a 10 gallon stocked with a single medium sized gold fish one of the kids "won" at the school carnival. I found I had to do a 50% water change ever other day to keep levels in a safe range. It took about 4 weeks or so for the tank to cycle.

Unless things have changed in the hobby in recent years, there's really not any kind of nitrifying bacteria that you can buy that is really going to work... basically because it's not going to contain enough live bacteria to get the job done. There was one product that did work, but it had to be kept refrigerated and had a very short shelf life. As such, almost no fish store stocked the stuff. So it's usually said that it's much better to get some material from a friends tank that's already cycled (such as a hand full of gravel or a part of their media filter).

But at this point, you've already got the fish and the tank going. Don't bother with any more of the nitrifying bacteria stuff and instead get some test kits and simply watch the chemistry until you see you can go at least a week between water changes without nitrites or nitrates getting to dangerous levels.

And remember, if you are using tap water, the chlorine in tap water can kill your existing bacteria colony. It's ok to fill the tank with tap water as you add conditioner to the water (you need conditioner such as 'Prime' to neutralize the chlorine in tap water). But don't ever wash your filter media in tap water. Instead, find a way to rinse the media with old tank water.