Quite often I read certain fishes (or other inhabitants) like a "mature" tank, but what is a "mature" tank? Should a tank be given 2-4 months to settle before adding something like Khuli's or 4-6 months or 6-8 months etcetera?
Cheers
a mature tank is, usually, upwards of six months old. and has been stable for many months.
as Bignose says its, most likely, made mature by the Biofilm. this, in itself, requires time to stabilise.
I always say you can "feel" if a tank is mature.
just put your hand in the tank and feel any surfaces in there. if the all feel, slightly, slimy. your feeling a mature tank.
a Mature filter, i feel, is a different matter.
Filters seem to be mature, once they have settled to process the waste from the fish you have. as well as adding extra bacteria, quickly, if more load is added. or the filter suffers some sort of die off.
if you do a fishless cycle, you could say your filter is than mature. indeed I've read this stated in in PFK .
this is, however, difficalt to quantify. as we dont really know which strains of bacteria (or indeed if there are particular strains) we use. its hard to pin down the life cycle of the bugs untill we can do that. a definitive point of maturity can not be worked out..
so, for me, its easier to state a filter becomes mature. when the tank does.
