maturing a tnak

[One_Trick_Pony]

hey guys as we all know cycling can be speeded up by seeding the enw tnak with material gravel filter emdia etc form an established tank.

however i am told things like rams, otos, neons etc prefeer a matuer tnak is there any way to speed up this maturing of a tank again using established materilas etc??


OTP

 

[Yenko]

Generally the only difference between a "mature" tank and a cycled tank is the buildup of organic matter in the water, which makes the water conditions similar to the natural habitat of these fish. This generally only happens in planted tanks; most of the organic matter comes from decaying plant matter, which is where it comes from in nature.

 

[The Mohave Kid]

Perhaps then humic acids are what you need to add .. humic acids are the end product of natural breakdown of organic materials ... plant and even animal material .. humic acids will lower and buffer the pH as well.

Good Day .... B)

 

[Tropjunky]

maturing a tank takes months and u know when ur tank is mature when u forget ur waterchanges for a month and find that ur water is more or less nr perfect (don't ask me how that works)

but u can i supose speed it up by adding biological media from a very old tanks filter but i'm not sure it'll do much gd for that tank tho.

anyways i'd say leave ur tank for about 6 months and it should be fine and should just about have matured.

 

[One_Trick_Pony]

yeah my question was any way to speed it up, but if not i guess the rams will have to wait

 

[Paul_MTS]

I consider a mature tank to be about 3 months old.

the only things i would wait a while longer for on that list would be the otos as they can be quite sensitive.

 

[jimw13uk]

do you have another tank - When setting up a new tank I always do a water change from my other tanks and use this "dirty" water to kick-start my new tank. I also swap filters roudn so I have a "dirty" filter with the "dirty" water in the new tank.
I then leave it for a few days and then do a water change in the new tank.
This normally lets me add fish to the new tank within a day or so from brand new.

 

[keane]

yeah my question was any way to speed it up, but if not i guess the rams will have to wait

Pete,

I put my pair of German Blues in less than two weeks after my tank had cycled and they are doing great!!

Spawned twice (although they are not yet used to not eating their eggs) and I have had no problems at all

They seem really settled and any slight water fluctuations I might have had have not affected them at all.

Steve 8)