New Tank! Yay, But Have A Few Questions :)

[tishygirl]

First off Let me say thank you for your help I'm sure you guys have answered this question 1000 times, and I did read lots of responses to other questions like mine, Just want to make 100% certain I am understanding things correctly so I don't harm my fishies


I Just got a 75gallon tank the night before last. Stayed up late to get it all set up I used about 35 gallons of the water from the other tank, then filled the rest up and adjusted my temperature.. I added some of my ceramic filter media, and all my silk plants, which i think should have quite a bit of good bacteria in them. Then I proceeded to put my 2 bala sharks, and my little sucker fish in the tank to keep the bacteria alive.

My question is , how soon can I start to add more fish to keep my bacteria growing ? I'm really anxious, 'cause WOW it looks so empty in there LOL.

I tested my water this morning, and ph is 7.6 which is my tap PH, I dont fiddle with that. My ammonia was 0, Nitrite was 0, and nitrAte 5, which leads me to believe its doing ok, but I'm not certain.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

There's basically next to nothing the in the way of benneficial bacteria in the water or on surfaces in the tank, the bulk of the bacteria is in your filters sponge, do you know about how to clone tanks?

 

[tishygirl]

There's basically next to nothing the in the way of benneficial bacteria in the water or on surfaces in the tank, the bulk of the bacteria is in your filters sponge, do you know about how to clone tanks?

I've read quite a bit about it, but not certain i understand it completely. But thats why I took the ceramic tube media and put that into my new filter, and brought my silk plants over to the new tank.

Oh, I also forgot to mention, I put my new sponges in my old tank and let them float in there before i set up the new filter

 

[tishygirl]

anyone have an idea of how long it'll take before I can add fish?

 

[themissingelf]

Go slowly... I'd be inclined to leave it a couple of week between increased stocking levels at the outset and keep measuring ammonia and nitrite leves.

 

[chibi]

I believe you're supposed to wait until Nirate is at 0 and Nitrite is risen. For the length of time, I'd say the longer the better. Atleast a week if you want your fish to be happy and healthy. It's such a horrible week to wait for, but imagine how crushed you would be if you added them too early and they died

 

[Egmel]

I believe you're supposed to wait until Nirate is at 0 and Nitrite is risen.

No no no!

NitrIte is the poisinous one and should be at 0, NitrAte is only dangerous at levels above 40ppm (according to most fish keepers) Please make sure you get these the right way round!

 

[d3tained]

I screwed my tank up when i changed to sand and had 25 fish in there and had to do cycle all over and all seems fine for now.So IMO wait 1 week add 2-3 more fish but monitor your fish closely and water stats.Then if all is fine after 4-5 days add more and slowley then stock your tank.

MMMM as for most of the bacteria living in the sponges of the filter im confused now.I have 2 Dolfyn power filters running which I removed the carbon filters from and just added ruf cotton.( Almost like a sponge )In the filter there is what they call a biofilter which apparently host bacteria but its just normal plastic so i dont really see how this works.Now I replace those sponges regulary with new ones and through the others away.Is this not correct then and do most bacteria not live in the substract? Confused

 

[scubadoo]

MMMM as for most of the bacteria living in the sponges of the filter im confused now.I have 2 Dolfyn power filters running which I removed the carbon filters from and just added ruf cotton.( Almost like a sponge )In the filter there is what they call a biofilter which apparently host bacteria but its just normal plastic so i dont really see how this works.Now I replace those sponges regulary with new ones and through the others away.Is this not correct then and do most bacteria not live in the substract? Confused

If you have an under gravel filter, then a lot of your bacteria will live in the gravel.
If you have an internal or external filter, the vast majority of the bacteria grows on the filter media, be it sponges or ceramic madia or noodles etc.
Hardly any beneficial bacteria will live in a sand substrate, and you wouldn't want it to because your water is not passing through it regularly to get treated.

I dont know what type of filter you have d3tained, but generally its not wise to regularly change your sponges - this is where your bacterial colony will likely exist and many sponges can last for years. They just need a gentle rinse in old tank water to remove the worst of the gunk then pop them back in.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

MMMM as for most of the bacteria living in the sponges of the filter im confused now.I have 2 Dolfyn power filters running which I removed the carbon filters from and just added ruf cotton.( Almost like a sponge )In the filter there is what they call a biofilter which apparently host bacteria but its just normal plastic so i dont really see how this works.Now I replace those sponges regulary with new ones and through the others away.Is this not correct then and do most bacteria not live in the substract? Confused

If you have an under gravel filter, then a lot of your bacteria will live in the gravel.
If you have an internal or external filter, the vast majority of the bacteria grows on the filter media, be it sponges or ceramic madia or noodles etc.
Hardly any beneficial bacteria will live in a sand substrate, and you wouldn't want it to because your water is not passing through it regularly to get treated.

I dont know what type of filter you have d3tained, but generally its not wise to regularly change your sponges - this is where your bacterial colony will likely exist and many sponges can last for years. They just need a gentle rinse in old tank water to remove the worst of the gunk then pop them back in.

agreed

if you put your new sponges in the old tank then hopefully between that and the ceramic media it should have seeded the tank. I would be doing water tests daily and socking very very slowly if I was you. Bear in mind your new tank even though it has some bacteria will not be fully mature, it may even start a mini cycle.

Don't add anything for at least a week, keep testing the water if you start getting readings for amonia or nitrite then it's cycling, if that's the case then I would put the fish back in the old tank (if it's still running) and fishless cycle the new one, then move them when the tank's ready. If your still getting 0 amonia, 0 nitrite and just a little nitrate after a week or so then I think it's safe to add some fish, but still build up slowly.

good luck