Bag Of Dirt

[hives]

hi there, my tank is in about its 4th day cycling (10g) and i did w ater test today at the local pet shop and my ph was fine, but nitrates down so im at the stage still waiting for the nitrate to rise then lower once bacteria gets it. The lady at the shop gave me a bag of water with dirt in which she got out of one of her cycled tanks for me to add to mine.. looks really dirty i know why i should add this but you you advise it? and if so do i just poor all that dirt in¬? thnx guys

p.s (10g, fluval1, undergavel filter, 2 adf)

 

[nino]

I wouldn't add it unless you know that the fish in the tank are all extremely healthy... and even then, who knows? If she got the dirt out of her tank from doing something like gravel cleaning then really you probably just have poopy water. If it's rinse from the filter that's better but all in all you are going to risk contaminating your tank.
Are you doing fishless cycle? If so, that does not take as long anyway so you are better off just letting it be.

 

[Griz]

I wouldn't chance it. How long has this been out of her tank? If it's more than a couple of hours, any good bacteria that might have been in there are probably dead anyway.

 

[hives]

i know what your saying on the risk... this is a well known more local pet shop with an older women and guy who have ran this shop for aslong as ive been alive. The tank had fish init which they had for sale and they have many tanks all with healthy looking fish for sale... she advised i added it.. oh well ive done it now, it isnt a fishless cycle as i have two adf, but they mainly hide in the large peice of bogwood i have and i feed them live bloodworm once every 2 days in quite small amounts. Im new to this fish keeping but im starting to understand ph levels and so on after annoying you guys with posts thank you for the replies and advice

 

[daklinz112588]

a little poopy is good it gets the good bacteria somthing to feed and grow off of i would consider putting at least a little bit of this "poopy" water in