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Leaving new tank to run

andusbeckus

andusbeckus

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16 Dec 2016
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148
Location
South Yorkshire
My friend had just got a new tank and has been told by the lfs to just let it run for 2 weeks then add fish slowly.

I’ve offered him some media from my filter so thats not a problem but does that 2 weeks with nothing actually do anything apart from check the equipment is all fine?
 
An aquarium needs to turn into a little ecosystem first, for this it needs to develop (grow) a certain amount of bacteria in the substrate and in the filter. These bacteria help converting the toxic nitrite and ammonia into less toxic and usefull nitrate for the plants. In the first weeks, these bacteria are yet not present in sufficient numbers. Most substrates can contain an x amount of ammonia and nitrite and it will leach this to the water column. Which is toxic for fish.

Personaly i find 2 weeks a bit short, i would rather wait 6 weeks and still measure for nitrite and ammonia.. Only add fish when these 2 elements are no longer measurable.
Because fish also produce ammonia as a waste product, so if it is still present without fish, you will only add more of it with adding fish. If you measure 0 quite early you still can be to soon with stocking, because there aint enough bacteria to convert the fish watse and food spoils and still get an unpleasant ammonia peak. Wait 5 weeks and measure if both read 0 wait a week longer with adding fish. it's beter for the fish to have this patience, beter safe than sorry.

It might be fun for you to add them sooner because the tank looks dull and empty, but just think of it, it aint fun for them. :)
 
Hi
If he has live plants they will be beneficial and will feed the bacteria.
Giving him some mature media will speed the cycling but still at least 4 weeks if U don't want to chance the livestock especially if he is a beginner and will not be able to resist overfeeding (Most new aquarists will often overfeed their tanks imo)
Regards Konsa
 
andusbeckus said:
but without an ammonia source for 2 weeks will anything actually be happening?
Click to expand...

in many cases is the new substrate an ammonia source :) especialy if it is a fertilized substrate for planted tank.. Many people using inert substrates like gravel or sand only, throw in some food flakes to get ammonia in it to jumpstart the bacteria population. I actualy have no idea in how far this has any possitive effects. Imho it's just a theory, same as the freeze dried bacteria formulas. Plants in transition, shedding and melting. algae growing and dying is creating bedri already is an ammonia/nitrite source as well. As long these plants do nothing more than transitioning and yet do not develop new growth they only add instead of taking any.

For me it's just simple, always use inert substrates and still always wait at least 6 weeks and do lots of water changes, before thinking of adding fish.. Than i start with a small number and keep track of the ammonia and nitrite values and if this stays stable at 0 i slowly add some more over the weeks and months after that. What's a few weeks waiting, compared to the total life time of the tank.. Peanuts. (Why all the hurry.. Haste makes Waste..) A year into the process enjoying the tank, you have forgotten the time you waited. :) I don't mind to do 4 to 6 months before the tank is fully stocked as i like it to be. Seeing plants grow healthy new foilage is a better indicator than keeping an ASAP theoritical time schedule. Beter wait for that to know you're on the right track.
 
I used ammonium chloride (salts) to cycle my tank. It took a bit over 14 days to have no detectable nitrite or ammonia levels. That was with sand substrate, no plants, no lights.... just a wet dry filter with air pump in tank. Left it another week and started to add plants and increase the light, then a week later again I added fish.

All the way through there were massive and frequent water changes as I felt fit. Finalising in a 100%. Before adding the plants.
 
I'm not really asking how to cycle a tank I've done it enough times before.

What I'm asking is does just leaving a tank to run with nothing in it for 2 weeks do anything at all to help establish bacteria in the filter?
 
If there is no source of ammonia either added manually or from substrate etc. then I can't see two weeks wait doing a massive amount. If you're going to give him enough media to equate to the fish he's putting in then he could go straight away. Or I guess you could add the media and start a fishless cycle and two weeks would be benefit there as the bacteria could spread to the other media/rest of tank.

If it's planted it would give the plants a chance to start rooting and time to tweak it.
 
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