Adding BB?
- Thread starter xDestro
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- bacteria cycling freshwater newbie
What do you mean by "adding bacteria"? Adding a product like a bottled bacteria starter from Tetra, or SeaChem....add that to an unicycle tank and add fish. The fish won't die, the starter will greatly speed up the cycling process. But, it still takes days/weeks to have a truly "cycled" tank, with its own bacteria colony and nice steady 0 ammonia and nitrite.
If you mean adding bacteria from another tank, that's pretty much instantaneous. You can add all the bacteria your tank needs from another tank, and you're done the day you add it.
Like, I have 4 bags of pond matrix in my sump right now. If I wanted to set up a new 240 Gallon tomorrow, I'd take a bag outta my sump, put it in the 240 gallon display, or sump under the 240, or in a canister filter, and I'd add fish. It'd be cycled.
I put a bag in my sump into a 20 gallon hospital tank I have, put sick fish in it, turn on a powerhead--done.
If you mean adding bacteria from another tank, that's pretty much instantaneous. You can add all the bacteria your tank needs from another tank, and you're done the day you add it.
Like, I have 4 bags of pond matrix in my sump right now. If I wanted to set up a new 240 Gallon tomorrow, I'd take a bag outta my sump, put it in the 240 gallon display, or sump under the 240, or in a canister filter, and I'd add fish. It'd be cycled.
I put a bag in my sump into a 20 gallon hospital tank I have, put sick fish in it, turn on a powerhead--done.
Yes i mean bottled bacteria. Will it keep me from having an ammonia spike wen adding fish? So say my aquarium is cycled and I have a few fish in but if I want to add 5-6 schooling fish could I add the bacteria to help the original bacteria out?
I've cycled all my tanks with bottled bacteria. If you use enough there will be no ammo or nitrite spike and you should start seeing nitrates with a day or two. The colonies won't be fully established though for a week or so as stated above so its best to have a bottle of Prime or Safe on hand as well just incase the cycle has a minicrash during that time. That way your fish are ok and the cycle isn't interrupted.
In your case yes it will help the bioload increase to cover the new fish.
I cycled my 125 gallon tank 3 years ago. I've never added anything but fish, water, and prime since then. If I add a bunch of new fish, I don't add any bacteria. I just drop the fish in the tank.
If your tank is cycled, you don't need to add anything but fish. 5-6 schooling fish? Like little fish? In a 55, 75, or 125 tank? Just drop them in the tank if it's cycled.
If your tank has a couple 3 inch clown loaches, and you add 4 12 inch Vieja to it, then you might have a problem...although I never have.
Keep it simple, don't go adding things to your tank you don't really really need to add.
If your tank is cycled, you don't need to add anything but fish. 5-6 schooling fish? Like little fish? In a 55, 75, or 125 tank? Just drop them in the tank if it's cycled.
If your tank has a couple 3 inch clown loaches, and you add 4 12 inch Vieja to it, then you might have a problem...although I never have.
Keep it simple, don't go adding things to your tank you don't really really need to add.
A lot of those products make big claims and do little or only mask problems temporarily. Of you want to cycle fast you need an ammonia source. It could be some hardy fish or actual bottled ammonia source. One mistake many people make is not having the ammonia source first. If you don't have ammonia than any bacteria you introduce will not have any food and a lot of it will die off. If you use fish to cycle the tank id hold off on adding bacteria until your drip test kit says you have a slight amount of ammonia. Could be a few days. Then you could go the retail bottle route but adding media from a cycled tank filter is way more effective. I recently finished a cycle by moving a used up carbon bag from an established tank to the new one. It seeded the new filter and cut the cycle time down by a huge margin.
I have a fair amount of experience with these products, live sand, live rock, etc...
It will speed up your process but it doesn't instantly allow you to have a full bioload. I would add it and add some fish food or another ammonia source to the tank. Watch the ammonia for a couple of days and then if you are in the clear I would add a fish.
People run into small ammonia spikes whenever they add more fish, or increase the "bioload". The bacteria multiply to accommodate their food source. If you have one fish for a while then your bacteria will be at a level that can deal with the amount of nitrogen you are putting into the system (i.e. amount of feed). By adding mor efish and feeding more these bacteria must multiply to meet the new level.
So whatever you do to cycle, add fish slowly and accelerate over time. It's true that it takes longer to get your population to start than it does to multiply, but don't expect your tank to be ready for 10 fish when it's really ready for 1.
It will speed up your process but it doesn't instantly allow you to have a full bioload. I would add it and add some fish food or another ammonia source to the tank. Watch the ammonia for a couple of days and then if you are in the clear I would add a fish.
People run into small ammonia spikes whenever they add more fish, or increase the "bioload". The bacteria multiply to accommodate their food source. If you have one fish for a while then your bacteria will be at a level that can deal with the amount of nitrogen you are putting into the system (i.e. amount of feed). By adding mor efish and feeding more these bacteria must multiply to meet the new level.
So whatever you do to cycle, add fish slowly and accelerate over time. It's true that it takes longer to get your population to start than it does to multiply, but don't expect your tank to be ready for 10 fish when it's really ready for 1.
