Ok so I'm a bit confused......If your tank is cycled (over 6 weeks running??) Then do you not need to add bacteria balls? What's the norm? Do most people add bacteria, water conditioner etc at every water change? My tank has been running 6 weeks cos we were doing a slow fish in cycle we've added this stuff when changing water twice a week. We'll drop down to w/c once a week now it's running for awhile. Our tanks 340litres so it is expensive to add this every change. Il do what's best for the fish but if It's not the norm I'd Def save some money!
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I'm not sure what bacteria balls are. Do you mean bio balls? Meant to be in a filter for bacteria to live on?
You're asking great questions and way to go for trying so hard to care for your fish ... Sorry sometimes the answers create more confusion!
I'm fairly new too but I started trying to master these basics about a year ago, and in February finally enough clicked that I've kept healthy fish in several aquariums since. I've also cycled about 6 aquariums, from 1 to 30 gallons.
So here's how I'd sum it up ...
So the main idea right now is that you've got two pets: fish, and bacteria.
The fish live in the water. The bacteria live on surfaces. The surfaces you really want them to live on are ones in your filter, since it gets exposed so well to all the water.
The part you surely understand is that there's ammonia in the water, and the first bacteria eat that and make nitrites. The second bacteria eat nitrites and make nitrates. But again, bacteria aren't really in the water.
So your filter holds things that remove chunks of stuff from the water, and things that house the bacteria so they grab ammonia and nitrite from the water.
The bacteria houses are usually called biomedia. Bio balls are one type. There are also ceramic things, and bacteria can live on sponges and filter floss and charcoal.
You want bacteria to move into all these houses and have babies.
So if you wish, you may use bio balls as bacteria houses. In my first tank they were just on filter floss and a biowheel. Now I have ceramic media. Lots of things work.
Of course, if you add them, and the bacteria move in, you don't want to pull the houses out. Or to kill the bacteria in them. That's why we handle our filter media carefully and don't replace it as often as the packaging says.
Some people don't want to wait for the bacteria to populate under their own speed, so they get bacteria from someone else's tank or from bottles. The former is very reliable though has its risks. The bottled bacteria has very mixed reputations and there are few true facts about whether the bacteria are really alive, whether they stay alive in the tank, and if they're the correct strains.
So add bio balls or something once, and don't change them. Add bottled bacteria like Cycle or quick start or stress zyme if you wish, when you do water changes until the tank is cycled, or just wait for nature to take its course.
Unless you are certain your water doesn't need dechlorinator, use it at every water change forever. Chlorine hurts fish and kills your bacteria.
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