Please Help With Maturish Media

[sjolliff]

a few week ago i got some perch fry from my local pond, had them for a couple of weeks then died, since then i have learnt about cycling, iv just cleaned out the old tank, but before i throw it all away i test the water
PH 7.2
AMMONIA 1.0PPM
NITRITE 5.0PPM
NITRATE 20PPM
the fish died due to the whole cycle and me been a newbie,
but can i use the filter media to boost my tropical tank??

 

[waterdrop]

From the one reading, one can only guess that the "perch fry" filter media never developed very much.

My uneducated guess would be that the risk of introducing something strange from the pond or perch fry would outweigh the small possible benefit of getting a few A-Bacs in the perch fry media. If it were me I'd just start with new media and a clean filter for my new tropical tank. I'd still try to get mature media from some good source but I'd steer clear of said source. But that's just me.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[sjolliff]

From the one reading, one can only guess that the "perch fry" filter media never developed very much.

My uneducated guess would be that the risk of introducing something strange from the pond or perch fry would outweigh the small possible benefit of getting a few A-Bacs in the perch fry media. If it were me I'd just start with new media and a clean filter for my new tropical tank. I'd still try to get mature media from some good source but I'd steer clear of said source. But that's just me.

~~waterdrop~~

i was feeding the fish on dried and frozen daphia, they was a lot of decaying fod and bits of plants, there was 10 fry in total about an inch long

 

[waterdrop]

How long did the described situation go for? Did the filter run with the decaying food etc for a long time? If it did then perhaps there are more bacteria than there would be otherwise...

 

[sjolliff]

How long did the described situation go for? Did the filter run with the decaying food etc for a long time? If it did then perhaps there are more bacteria than there would be otherwise...

it has been running for around 5 weeks

 

[waterdrop]

Well that's long enough that there might be significant useful bacteria...

 

[sjolliff]

I put them in at earlier on so when i test soon, see if its made any difference! (hopefully)
im going to get the fluval 205 i think, when my tank is cycled and you give it that 90% water change, clean etc, i think i will fit my new external filter with me old media let it run through for a few days-week then add fish
cheers waterdrop