Bacteria Supplement

[dillowpillow]

My friend got an aquarium and he got some bacteria suppliment with the tank. How long after he adds the bacteria should he put the fish in?

 

[Rooster]

Please search the forum for "cycling"...

 

[rdd1952]

Sadly, almost all of those bacteria supplements are useless. If it came with the tank, it is most likely Cycle or Stress Zyme. The only products that seem to work are those that have to be kept refrigerated such as Bio Spira here in the states. The best route to go is to cycle without fish. Here is the link to the fishless cycling pinned topic. It will take between 3 and 8 weeks to complete a fishless cycle.

If you decide to cycle with fish. You can actually add fish a couple days after you set up the tank and the water clears. There are a few things you will need to know to cycle with fish. First, you will only want to start with about 3 hardy fish such danios (provided your tank is large enough for them), red-eye tetras, serpae tetras, etc.

Second, you will need a good liquid master test kit because you will need to test ammonia and nitrite daily. If you aren't familiar with the nitrifying process, basically fish produce waste which is ammonia. It comes from fish poo and is also emitted through their gills. It is very toxic and can quickly kill fish if the level isn't kept low. Basically, in a cycled tank, ammonia should always be zero. A bacteria will build in the tank that will process the ammonia and turn it into nitrite which is also toxic. Just like ammonia, nitrite should always be at zero. Another bacteria will develop that turns nitrite into nitrate which is also toxic but only in high amounts of 100 ppm or higher. Nitrate is removed with water changes. Usually a 15 to 25 percent change once a week will keep the nitrates under 20ppm.

Once ammonia and nitrite shows up in your tank (ammonia will show first as it is from waste and there won't be any bacteria yet to transform it into nitrite), you will need to start doing water changes as often as possible to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below .25ppm. The process to get the tank cycled for the few fish you start with will take 2 to 3 weeks. Once you go a full week with the ammonia and nitrite readings at zero, you can add a few more fish (don't add more than you already have - never more than double your fish load at one time). The process starts all over again. Test daily and do water changes as needed until you go a week without ammonia and nitrite again. Then add a few more.

If you cycle with fish and can keep the ammonia and nitrite levels below .25 ppm, you can probably get through without and fish loses. Please, before you add fish either to cycle with or after you do a fishless cycle, research the fish you want to keep and see what their needs are. Test your tap water to see what the pH is. If for example you want to keep cichlids which prefer alkaline water with a pH near or above 8.0, and your tap water is 6.6, then you will have to figure out how to get the pH high enough for them. Actually, raising the pH naturally is a lot easier than lowering it. That's where the other side of the spectrum comes in. If your tap pH is high, say 7.8 (which it possible could be with you in Charleston and the coast) and you want to keep fish that prefer acidic water such as angels and most tetras, you will have a very hard time lowering the pH naturally to where they would prefer it.

Sorry to get carried away but I wanted to give you as much information as I could to help you get started on the right foot. At least you are already on a fish forum before you have fish so that is a step in the right direction. You will find that there is a wealth of information on this forum and a lot of very friendly people who are more than willing to help you in the hobby.