Cycling with bottom dwelling fish Faster?

[Spiritofthesoul]

First off let me just say that I'm not supportive of using fish to cycle aquariums as the fish would be suffering from the ammonia spikes. However some fish keeper still does it as the idea of fishless cycling is still relatively new.

As far as I know, the benificial bacteria is introduce into the tank by the fish. Since a bottom dwelling fish usually hangs out near the bottom (duhh thats why its call a bottom dwelling fish), in theory the BB would have an easier job of seeding into the substrate.

So would the cycling process be much faster using a bottom dweller as compared to a fish which swims at the top all the time?

 

[jvin85]

My guess is it depends on your water flow. Water flow will circulate the bacteria faster allowing more contact with chemicals/minerals.

Then again a fish that produces more waste than one that doesn't would probably increase cycle effeciency.

Predator fish would probably be even more effecient as their food produces more waste then say a pleco?? (Or maybe a pleco produces more waste then any other fish....)..

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

My theory is that BB can be found on the body of the fishes. So when the bottom dwellers rub against the gravel bed, the BB would drop onto the gravel and effectively seed it.

 

[bob965]

I think the difference will be negligible. The bacteria come from everywhere. Your hands, anything you put in the tank, the fish, the air. From what I understand, the species of bacteria we are concerned with in aquaria are relatively slow to reproduce, and that is the limiting factor.

 

[papawoody]

no difference imo . if you're using a fish to cycle , better to use fish that are super hardy if you want them to live , or ones that you don't care about them if they die ... regardless of which part of the tank they prefer to dwell

 

[squint]

Turning on the heater will make much more of a difference.

Then again, I don't like to rush anything related to aquariums. Impatience usually precedes disaster.

 

[Industrial]

Think of it this way, if you have a powerhead that produces a 10x turnover rate that means, every 6 minutes all the water has passed through the same point. When you put bacteria in that tank, within 6 minutes, the bacteria would have passed over every surface.

While it may be faster, it definitely wouldn't produce any noticeable time differences in the month it takes to cycle the aquarium.