Mature Media Question

[Tropical_Fish]

I've been trying to get hold of some mature media to speed up the cycling process.

I've been trying to think of anyone I know with a Tropical fish tank and I can't think of anyone, but then I just realised that one of my mates who I'm seeing later tonight, breeds coldwater fish for ponds, he starts them of in a huge big tank in his living room, buys them cheap when they're small and sells them for more when they're big - don't think he makes anything - more just a hobby.

Anyway - would any mature media from his coldwater filter be any use in my tropical filter?

 

[Curiosity101]

Yep. The bacteria in his filter will be exactly the same as the bacteria in a tropical tank. They are all freshwater so viable in either coldwater or tropical tanks.

 

[backtotropical]

Absolutely fine, the bacteria are exactly the same.

Cheers

BTT

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Thanks for that, I'll see what I can do

 

[Tropical_Fish]

My friend has no fish in his indoor tank at the moment!

He says he's left it running though, and there is algae in there - am I right that the bacteria will have died off?

Will media from a pond be OK?

My friend has offered to get a bag full of the gunk from the pond filter - will this be beneficial. He says the media is just cut up plastic pipe

 

[fatheadminnow]

My friend has no fish in his indoor tank at the moment!

He says he's left it running though, and there is algae in there - am I right that the bacteria will have died off?

Will media from a pond be OK?

My friend has offered to get a bag full of the gunk from the pond filter - will this be beneficial. He says the media is just cut up plastic pipe

Do you know how long that there has been no fish/any ammonia source in his pond?

Bacteria, if there is no ammonia source present, will die off at a rate between 3-10% daily. Some people may say they die off at a different rate, but I have come to notice that 3-10% is about average.

So, at about 2 weeks, one could safely assume that there is no beneficial bacteria left in his tank.

However, if there is algae in the tank, then that means that there might be an ammonia source, as algae needs ammonia + light to live, so there might actually be bacteria left over. It does not hurt to get some media to give it a shot as to whether it will work or not at speeding up your cycle.

Filter "gunk" is actually quite beneficial at holding bacteria, so yes, I would take that for sure.

As for the cut-up plastic pipe, that should also be able to support bacteria, so I would definitely take some of that as well.

-FHM

 

[Tropical_Fish]

The pond still has fish in it now, that's the one with cut up plastic pipe for media - he said I can have a handful of pipe bits and some filter gunk if I want.

The tank hasn't had fish in it for months, but he says he'll just chuck the fish in when he gets some more.

So it's worth getting some filter gunk and plastic pipe bits?

Where do I put them? In the filter? If there isn't room do I just chuck them in the tank? (the pipe bits that is)

Cheers

 

[fatheadminnow]

The pond still has fish in it now, that's the one with cut up plastic pipe for media - he said I can have a handful of pipe bits and some filter gunk if I want.

The tank hasn't had fish in it for months, but he says he'll just chuck the fish in when he gets some more.

So it's worth getting some filter gunk and plastic pipe bits?

Where do I put them? In the filter? If there isn't room do I just chuck them in the tank? (the pipe bits that is)

Cheers

Yes, it is worth getting the gunk and the plastic pipe bits.

Put them in the filter.

They will not do much good if you just put them in the tank, as you want to put them in a place that has good water flow like the inside of the filter.

-FHM

 

[Curiosity101]

If you really can't fit them into the filter then could you perhaps get some sort of netting and wrap the bottom of the filter with this netting (with the pipe bits in the bottom), so that the flow of water the filter is pulling up has to go through the pipe bits before it goes into the filter...

Best thing I can think of if you really can't fit them into the actual filter.