Water from an established tank

[rubyjess]

Hi all just went to my lfs tried to get some seeding material to no avail,they did however give me 10 litres of water from an established healthy tank, my question is will this water help with the fish less cycle
Cheers

 

[Yeahitstrue]

I doubt it... It will probably just introduce nitrate, which won't feed any bacteria. I'm not 100 percent sure though.

 

[carey]

The bacteria do not reside in the water mostly, all you'd add would be the bad stuff in it. Like mentioned above.

I bought for $10 a bag of gravel yesterday from a tank at my lfs. Did you offer to pay for anything? Sometimes a few bucks makes all the difference.

 

[rubyjess]

Ok I went to another lfs today and he kindly gave me loads of block looking things from his filters ,he said put it in my tank near the filter ,in a stocking ,hope this is ok
Cheers

 

[mfdrookie516]

That'll work just fine... you can even put it in your filter if it'll fit.

 

[rubyjess]

Cheers mate it won't fit but it's right next to the intake on my filter,also stumbled on some pure ammonia at last ,shook bottle no foam etc
Smelt it and it blew my face apart so I reason it's good,
Just not sure about how much to put in ,I know you are meant to get up to 4 ppm etc but how much to put into a 180 litre tank when my readings are at ammonia 0
Cheers

 

[mfdrookie516]

You don't have any fish in there yet, right? Just get a dropper of some sort... the ones they make for kids work great. Start by doing a few drops (10 for starters), wait 15 minutes or so, then test again. This will give you a good baseline for when you have to add more later. See how many ppm you have. Keep doing over and over again, adjusting if you have to to get 4ppm.

 

[rubyjess]

No fish mate ,I don't have a dropper /pipette I do have a measuring cup off a medication bottle ,reading 5 ml to 25 ml

 

[rubyjess]

Well anyway I went ahead and added 5 ml of ammino and saw an instant change in readings ,added another 5 ml and reading are now 4 ppm
Do I leave it now and let the nitrites eat it up ?
Cheers

 

[carey]

Yep. Now you just wait. And if the ammonia falls again just re dose it

 

[rubyjess]

Cheers
Hope I don't have to wait to long ,its been 2/3 weeks already
Just want some little fishies