With the equipment in place, water temperature balanced and the layout suiting your tastes, I’m sure you’ll be itching to get fish in to your new aquarium – but patience is a big part of the hobby.
A healthy aquarium relies hugely on harbouring beneficial bacteria but in a new system we are bacteria free. So, how do we gain the bacteria that we need?
There are three approaches – the right way, the quick way and the wrong way. A lot of the old guard (including myself) grew up on doing it the wrong way, known as ‘fish-in cycling’, so the practice is still widely advised and practiced.
Fish-in cycling is based on adding ‘hardy’ species a matter of days after setting the tank up. These fish pollute the water which eventually encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria. The problem – fish are contained within polluted water for several weeks, compromising their health. New tank syndrome and being put off fishkeeping is often the result.
The safer way to mature an aquarium
is known as a ‘fishless cycle’. This method sees us adding and monitoring the equivalent of fish waste, for a few weeks, to encourage bacterial growth. Ammonia is the toxic by-product expelled by fish and we can add this – either porpose made aquarium products or pure, household ammonia.
Not only does this avoid keeping your first fish in poor conditions, it also allows a higher level of pollution – resulting in a stronger colony of beneficial bacteria (bio filter). The bonus for the fish keeper is that, once ready for fish, your filter can support far more fish than at the same point with a fish-in cycle. Also, you’re not restricted to only introducing Hardy fish.
