One very important factor in getting a tank established that is often overlooked is the process of building biofilm.
Flossie said:Hey severum mama great thread. Speaking of seeding... I added filter media from an established tank to a new 55g it's from a whisper 30 what would be a small bio load for it?? Few danios?
maxwellag said:Imo some (live, not raw from the grocery store, just to be clear) shrimp and snails would be good for a small bioload... but since it is a 55 gallon, you would need a lot of shrimp and snails... so I would recommend a small school of hardy fish... danios are pretty hardy...
Sure, biofilm is the building block on which the bacteria colony establishes itself.Could you elaborate?
maxwellag said:Imo some (live, not raw from the grocery store, just to be clear) shrimp and snails would be good for a small bioload... but since it is a 55 gallon, you would need a lot of shrimp and snails... so I would recommend a small school of hardy fish... danios are pretty hardy...
Flossie said:I was thinking about shrimp bit I thought they were sensitive to parameters...
maxwellag said:Yeah, they are... but ghost shrimp are dirt cheap... but like Eco said, you don't have to use hardy fish, you can put in any fish that is compatible with stocking limits... and you just have to do what it takes to keep it alive.... that way you have the fish you want, and don't have room being taken up by fish used mainly to cycle your tank... if you seed it with some good media and put it in the filter or in a high flow area, and put some raw shrimp in, or do the industrial ammonia thing, you'll be fine... but if you are certain on going fish in, put in what you think you will want in the future, after it is cycled. You will just have to make sure that toxic levels are low. Very low. Do whatever it takes to keep them low.
jetajockey said:You don't have to do PWC daily for fish in cycling if you keep the stocking very light, it's actually really easy to fish-in cycle if the stocking portion is done correctly.
I agree about the not getting hardy fish thing, I don't get fish that I don't plan to keep.
Flossie said:Oh ok well I threw in some food but I really don't want to try and keep the BB that way bc it's messy and I don't want rotting fish flakes in my tank.
I tested today and had .50 ammo and .25 trites and 5 trates so idk if it'll support any fish. My tap does have chloramines so it shows ammo sometimes but I use a ammonia neutralizer
Would it be ok to add some ghost shrimp!? I was wanting some anyway
maxwellag said:Imo definitely, if you wanted some anyway, and because they are a small bio load, so ammo wont build up and bite them back as much (hopefully)... I also suggest amano, red cherry, or mandarin shrimp... amano shrimp are really good for algae control. Cherry shrimp are red colored. They are better looking than ghosties. (Imo) mandarin shrimp are orange.... also look different.
Flossie said:RCs would look
Awesome bc I'm hoping for cardinal/ neons and rummynose but I'm sure if I get centerpiece fish the shrimp will get eaten. I could get snails haha
jetajockey said:if you do decide to stock the tank, the first thing to do is a thorough water change/cleaning to get any possible ammonia source out of the water so you are starting with a clean slate, so to speak.