I think the term seeded instead of dirty would keep someone new at cycling a aquarium from becoming confused.
How to cycle a tank very quickly? Is it even possible?
- Thread starter Kashif314
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While you can do this, i personally prefer not to unless you know the LFS’ tanks are clean or you / your friends dont already have a tank running where you can grab some media from...
Main reason for this is some LFS’ run all their tanks through a central filtration system, so if theres any diseases or parasites in one tank it’ll be passed to them all, which means you’ll also have the potential to be transferring them to your brand new setup which isnt ideal...
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But what about all the bacteria in a bottle quick cycle solutions?
Has anyone actually used them and had success? I've always been wary of them.
Has anyone actually used them and had success? I've always been wary of them.
Some say it works. I personally never used bacteria in a bottle to cycle a aquarium.
Im in the same boat as you and always been iffy about bacteria in a bottle... so i’ve always just used seeded filter media from one of my old tanks when i started any new tanks for myself or friends...
However, there have been discussions about this in the past where people have explained how the Bacteria in a bottle works...
Here is a short thread talking about it...
Why is SW Bacteria In A Bottle More Reliable Than FW?
I'm doing research for a Salt Water aquarium on reef2reef and I see Biospira (a SW bacteria for sale) being mentioned a lot with people positively reviewing it each time. Bio spira seems to be much more reliable than the FW bacteria for sale like Seachem Stability among others.
www.monsterfishkeepers.com
I also only use seeded biomedia for starting new tanks, but I think (if from a reputable company) there's really no issue with bacteria in a bottle (though in powder form might have better shelf life, not sure). I think RD's last post in that thread sums it up nicely
Fat Homer
, thx for sharing.
That said of course if using bacteria in a bottle (or pre-seeded filter media for that matter) one still needs to add a source of ammonia to feed the bacteria and help them get established, whether it's a fish or (as I prefer) some crushed pellets.
Fat Homer
, thx for sharing.That said of course if using bacteria in a bottle (or pre-seeded filter media for that matter) one still needs to add a source of ammonia to feed the bacteria and help them get established, whether it's a fish or (as I prefer) some crushed pellets.
The last time I cycled a tank (a few years back) I just went straight for the house hold ammonia. I think it was about $2 and I have enough left over to cycle a couple hundred more tanks. I put 2 drops of ammonia into the new tank every day until the test kit read critical levels of ammonia. I think it took about 4 days to reach that level in the 35g tank.
Adding food / pellets works fine but you have to wait for the bacteria that breaks down the food into ammonia to colonize before you get enough ammonia to kick start the nitrifying bacteria. For those of us that are short on patients using food as an ammonia source will probably add a few excruciatingly long days to cycling the tank.
With some dirty (seeded ? ) media under the inflow in the sump it seems like it took about a week or so to get detectable levels of nitrites. Then a few more weeks to get detectable levels of nitrates. It then took a few more weeks for the high measured level of ammonia to start to drop noticeably as the colonies of bacteria started to grow and flourish.
My quoted times are very approximated as they are just my best recollection of a few years ago.
I don't care for the sacrificial fish method of cycling a tank.
)
Adding food / pellets works fine but you have to wait for the bacteria that breaks down the food into ammonia to colonize before you get enough ammonia to kick start the nitrifying bacteria. For those of us that are short on patients using food as an ammonia source will probably add a few excruciatingly long days to cycling the tank.
With some dirty (seeded ? ) media under the inflow in the sump it seems like it took about a week or so to get detectable levels of nitrites. Then a few more weeks to get detectable levels of nitrates. It then took a few more weeks for the high measured level of ammonia to start to drop noticeably as the colonies of bacteria started to grow and flourish.
My quoted times are very approximated as they are just my best recollection of a few years ago.
I don't care for the sacrificial fish method of cycling a tank.
(So after you use your nose tissue or toilet tissue is the tissue "DIRTY" or is it just "seeded"? LOL!
)
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One point worth a mention. Anybody who buys fish from any fish store, reputable or not, puts said fish into quarantine, it's a basic hobby standard nowadays, and if you don't do it that way you are potentially setting yourself up for trouble a few weeks down the line when you notice your tank has lurgy from your new arrivals.
Isn't putting seeded media from another system into your own tank thwarted with the same potential pitfalls, unless you quarantine your new media, but who does that?
It's conflicting advice. Never put new fish straight in your tank from a system you're not familiar with, but by all means throw a load of old media in, also from a system you're not familiar with
Isn't putting seeded media from another system into your own tank thwarted with the same potential pitfalls, unless you quarantine your new media, but who does that?
It's conflicting advice. Never put new fish straight in your tank from a system you're not familiar with, but by all means throw a load of old media in, also from a system you're not familiar with
