General Fish Questions! *newbie

[eaglesaquarium]

I appreciate that. 

 

[rybrows]

Hi mate

Just tested the water again with similar results so have repeated the process....

Found out that an old friend has got a tropical tank, had it around a year... What's the process I have to do for do get his bacteria from filter into mine?? And will it save me a huge hassle on for what doing at the minute?

Thanks

 

[orangegecko]

Some great info in this thread!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Hi mate

Just tested the water again with similar results so have repeated the process....

Found out that an old friend has got a tropical tank, had it around a year... What's the process I have to do for do get his bacteria from filter into mine?? And will it save me a huge hassle on for what doing at the minute?

Thanks

 
It can save you a great amount of the hassle.
 
Step one: beg, plead, extort, whatever you need to do to get your friend to give you as much media from their filter (the stuff that's inside it... floss, ceramics, sponges, anything)...
 
Step two: keep it wet in transit from his tank to yours.
 
Step three:  Add it to your filter... cut it up, remove whatever is necessary to get it into your filter.   This will have ALL the right types of bacteria you need.  This could cycle your tank immediately if you have enough bacteria on the donated media.  If not, it will, at the very least, lessen the amount of time and the need for the water changes. 
 
 
 
Then, keep testing daily.  You should see the nitrites start to drop off.  And when they don't show up for a solid 7 days straight, then you are cycled.

 

[rybrows]

Don't suppose there is a video on here or YouTube showing this? Sounds confusing... Don't want to mess it or or do any damage to his fish.... Is it not possible to take too much out of his filter??

 

[fluttermoth]

A filter can easily give up to a quarter of it's total media, without affecting the tank.
 
It's not really confusing; you just take some of their media, and put it into the filter in your tank. Don't let it dry out while being transported and, if you need to cut it up to fit into your filter, then that's fine. 
 
Oh, and don't forget to give your friend some new media to replace what you've taken, so their bacteria can spread onto it

 

[Gruntle]

I think the general guideline is no more than a quarter or a third of the media from an existing filter, or the tank can go into a mini cycle. To be safe I'd go with a quarter at the very most.
Sorry, my bad, didn't see there was a page two, lucky the advice was the same!

 

[JBlacksmith]

 

 

Hi mate

Just tested the water again with similar results so have repeated the process....

Found out that an old friend has got a tropical tank, had it around a year... What's the process I have to do for do get his bacteria from filter into mine?? And will it save me a huge hassle on for what doing at the minute?

Thanks

 
It can save you a great amount of the hassle.
 
Step one: beg, plead, extort, whatever you need to do to get your friend to give you as much media from their filter (the stuff that's inside it... floss, ceramics, sponges, anything)...
 
Step two: keep it wet in transit from his tank to yours.
 
Step three:  Add it to your filter... cut it up, remove whatever is necessary to get it into your filter.   This will have ALL the right types of bacteria you need.  This could cycle your tank immediately if you have enough bacteria on the donated media.  If not, it will, at the very least, lessen the amount of time and the need for the water changes. 
 
 
 
Then, keep testing daily.  You should see the nitrites start to drop off.  And when they don't show up for a solid 7 days straight, then you are cycled.
 

I have a question: Do you have to incorporate the media from the donor filter directly into your filter? Or could you just drop it in the tank somewhere? I have always put the donor media straight into my filter, but I'm curious to know why it is confined to the filter (if it is confined).

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Yes, add to the filter.
 
 
The bacteria do live all over the tank, on any surface available where the conditions are right.  BUT, the filter provides a ton of the proper needs... ammonia, oxygen, etc. as the flow through the filter is very high compared to other areas of the tank... so the conditions for them is BEST there, but not only there. 
 
 
Its just the easiest spot to grab the bacteria, and the most concentrated area to find the bacteria.
 
 
Just dropping it into the tank somewhere will have an effect, but it won't be maximized.  As pointed out above, the filter gives the best home as its got the most flow and access to all the tank water, not just a bit.  So, you could just drop it in, but much of the bacteria on it would die as it is deprived of its needs and it wouldn't be able to process as much ammonia as it just wouldn't contact enough water.

 

[JBlacksmith]

That makes a lot of sense, thanks!
I have another question how does it work when there is some sort of container filled with gravel from an established tank in a new tank? Is the bacteria in the gravel just not as concentrated, so having it sit at the bottom doesn't affect it as much? Or does a container of bacteria-filled gravel even help significantly?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

That's basically it... it helps, but its not nearly as effective.