If you are going to put in a bacteria colony, I would just put fish in at the same time. Way easier than dosing ammonia, and wont hurt the fish. I have never heard of ATM colony, but I have used Dr. Tim's and it's great.
Stupid newbie questions about water and cycling
- Thread starter WillCostello
- Start date
alright so if I put in a nitrifying bacteria product then I can add my fish and not worry about adding ammonia?
https://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/threads/cycling-and-you.224559/
read this information, but don't add ammonia while you have fish.
1) no fish. add ammonia or food
2) fish, just feed like normal
One more thing: the colony of BB is a specific amount fit for what's in tank. E.g., if you add 1 more or 3 more larger fish, or 10 more smaller fish, etc., the bacteria doesn't suddenly jump in size. It grows over time. So if you add more fish, feed a lot less than you'd expect is needed, and slowly increase the food to the normal amount. I'd say start at 25% of "normal" and work up to 100% over a week.
Bacteria will grow to accommodate the new loads.
This is also a good idea because new fish often eat anything and the food rots in the tank which causes other problems.
Last edited:
I'm sure all of your questions have been answered by now. I just want to thank you for listening and asking the question first. Not to often we get new people coming into the hobby that want/need to listen.
If you have a friend or someone you know you can grab some cycled media to jump start your cycle. Personally I would ditch the strips and buy a liquid test kit
