Lol.. Pantyhose?

[MollyFresh]

Okay so if I get some gravel from a "mature cycled tank" and put it in my tank.. why would I need to rap it in pantyhose? Can't I just put it with the other gravel??

 

[Corleone]

The pantyhose is to get it out afterwards - I suppose you could just dump it in the gravel, if it matches. I tried this with my second tank, though, and it really didn't help me much. There's some bacteria in it, and it's better than nothing, but if you have access to a tank to get gravel from, you have access to the filter, too. Cut a bit out of the sponge or take some ceramic rings, or whatever it has in it, and put it in your own filter. You'll know the good stuff because in a mature tank, the biological media will grow a brown slime that might smell a bit bad. Much higher bacteria concentration, if the tank is old enough (6 months to a year) you can take half of it without much risk, which will almost instantly cycle a tank of similar size or smaller.

 

[rdd1952]

The probem with using gravel is that only a very small amount of bacteria actually colonizes in the gravel (unless you have an under grave filter) and then only near the surface. The bacteria need food (ammonia and nitrite) to survive and the place that has the most food is the filter since the water passes through it usually 5 or more times an hour. There wll be some bacteria on the tank walls, plants, decorations and the gravel but only a small amount as those see a limite amount of food. And anything below the surface of the gravel will see only a very small amount of water movement thus resulting in no bacteria being able to survive there.

If you did get gravel, my suggestion would be to put t in the filter with the other filter media. That way, what ever bacteria is there would have a supply of food and be able to multiply more quickly.