What To Feed Bacteria?

[max1]

Hey, I recently had a lone tetra in my 10g but he just died yesterday. I won't be able to go out and by more fish right away but what''s the best way to avoid another cycle? Should I just add a small amount of ammonia every day?

Any advice will be appreciated.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yes, add 5ppm of pure ammonia every day as you would for a fishless cycle, then do a big water change before adding fish.

 

[rdd1952]

If you only had a single tetra, you will have a very limited amount of bacteria any way as there is only enough bacteria present to handle the waste of the fish load. Adding ammonia as MW sugested will actually build a larger bacteria colony than you previously had but if you want to fully stock the tank again, that's what you will need to do. Otherwise, if you only sustained what you have, you would only have enough bacteria for one fish. I would actually startwith about 1 ppm of ammonia the first time and see how quickly that processes to no ammonia or nitrite and then up the amount to 4 or 5 ppm the second time.

If you don't have any ammonia, you can also just drop in a few fish flakes daily but that gets messy.

 

[racegoer]

If you don't have any ammonia, you can also just drop in a few fish flakes daily but that gets messy.

Putting the flake in a popsock or similar saves a lot of mess.

 

[max1]

If you only had a single tetra, you will have a very limited amount of bacteria any way as there is only enough bacteria present to handle the waste of the fish load.

Yeah that's what I was thinking. So this will actually boost the bacterial population, good. Oh, and don't worry, I've got plenty of ammonia! So, with my 10 G tank, and according to the calculator in the thread on fishless cycling, I have to add about 1.6ml to bring my ammonia to 5ppm.

Ok then, that's what I'll do!

Thanks.

Also, could you point towards any threads discussin the place where bacteria "lives" in the tank. That is in the substrate or in the filter media? I know different people have different opinions on the subject but I'd like to learn a little more.

 

[rdd1952]

There are a lot of threads about where bacteria live which in actuallity is everywhere in the tank. The vast majority of them though are where the most food passes which is the filter. Since the water, which contains the ammonia and nitrite, is constantly passed through the filter, that is where most of the basteria colonize. There will be some on the surface of the gravel or sand but because there is little or no water flow below the surface of the substrate, nothing but anorobic bacteria will live below. There will also be bacteria on the tank walls, plants and decorations too but once again, since there isn't as much food passing by them, there won't be as much as in the filter.

Having said that, if you happen to use an under gravel filter, then you will have quite a bit of bacteria in the gravel as the water passes through the gravel going to the filter.