FishyMamma
Aquarium Advice Freak
Hi all!
I'm not a complete newbie, but I am still learning even after several years in the hobby with FW community tanks. I know the "ideal" way to build beneficial bacteria (BBs) to process the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium is to fishless cycle with naturally occurring BBs, which has taken me six weeks or more on my own. Finding a "dirty" or seeded filter or other media from a cycled aquarium speeds this process up considerably. [For more info - see the stickies at the top of this forum on the nitrogen cycle and on fishless cycling.]
As we moved several states from my old home and my tank and equipment had to be in storage for several months, I had to give away all my stock and tons of plants *sniff*. So now I'm starting from scratch with my 55 gal. I don't know fishy people here IRL yet, nor have I managed to get in contact with any aquarium clubs. I have found a couple good LFS's but am reluctant to get seeded media from their tanks, just in case there is something nasty brewing.
So with that said, I did some online research and decided to give Microbe-Lift products a try. In order to minimize possible bacterial die-off from sitting on a shelf in a store, and to give the "fairest" possible trial to the products, I ordered them directly from the manufacture and am using them today, two days after their arrival.
Here's what I ordered from Microbe-lift, as well as the bottle of pure ammonia from Ace Hardware.
[Not planning on using the "Bacterial Aquarium Balancer" - small purple bottle nor the "Gravel & Substrate Cleaner" - small, light Aqua bottle on the right, the at this time.]
The tank will have living plants (TBA) and has a black aquarium sand substrate mixed with 25% Eco-complete.
Stock plan (at the moment) is:
9 Albino or Sterbei Cories, 12 neon tetras, 12 rummynose tetras, an Opaline Gourami, and 4 nerite snails. Maybe some RCS if that's appropriate, but I haven't researched them yet.
AqAdvisor suggests this stock level is 85%.
Filling the tank with straight-from-the-tap water, NOT dechlorinated yet. It's a little cloudy, hoping it settles enough today to start the cycling.
Getting plants and root tabs tomorrow, probably. Although I'm tempted to order online.
So if anyone is interested in following this semi-scientific/real-world bottled bacteria trial, please let me know. Open to comments, questions, and suggestions.
Thank, Jen
Sent via Carrier Goldfish
I'm not a complete newbie, but I am still learning even after several years in the hobby with FW community tanks. I know the "ideal" way to build beneficial bacteria (BBs) to process the nitrogen cycle in an aquarium is to fishless cycle with naturally occurring BBs, which has taken me six weeks or more on my own. Finding a "dirty" or seeded filter or other media from a cycled aquarium speeds this process up considerably. [For more info - see the stickies at the top of this forum on the nitrogen cycle and on fishless cycling.]
As we moved several states from my old home and my tank and equipment had to be in storage for several months, I had to give away all my stock and tons of plants *sniff*. So now I'm starting from scratch with my 55 gal. I don't know fishy people here IRL yet, nor have I managed to get in contact with any aquarium clubs. I have found a couple good LFS's but am reluctant to get seeded media from their tanks, just in case there is something nasty brewing.
So with that said, I did some online research and decided to give Microbe-Lift products a try. In order to minimize possible bacterial die-off from sitting on a shelf in a store, and to give the "fairest" possible trial to the products, I ordered them directly from the manufacture and am using them today, two days after their arrival.
Here's what I ordered from Microbe-lift, as well as the bottle of pure ammonia from Ace Hardware.
[Not planning on using the "Bacterial Aquarium Balancer" - small purple bottle nor the "Gravel & Substrate Cleaner" - small, light Aqua bottle on the right, the at this time.]
The tank will have living plants (TBA) and has a black aquarium sand substrate mixed with 25% Eco-complete.
Stock plan (at the moment) is:
9 Albino or Sterbei Cories, 12 neon tetras, 12 rummynose tetras, an Opaline Gourami, and 4 nerite snails. Maybe some RCS if that's appropriate, but I haven't researched them yet.
AqAdvisor suggests this stock level is 85%.
Filling the tank with straight-from-the-tap water, NOT dechlorinated yet. It's a little cloudy, hoping it settles enough today to start the cycling.
Getting plants and root tabs tomorrow, probably. Although I'm tempted to order online.
So if anyone is interested in following this semi-scientific/real-world bottled bacteria trial, please let me know. Open to comments, questions, and suggestions.
Thank, Jen
Sent via Carrier Goldfish