Can Cycled Water be Used In New Tank-Beneficial Bacteria?

bacterium need ammonia and nitrites to survive. if your fish don't produce enough waste fast enough the bacteria will start to die off.....

 

Right... Your water should not have ammonia and nitrites in it if it's cycled.

 

if there are fish in the tank they are producing ammonia, there is always some ammonia in the tank if there wasn't the bacteria would just die off cause there would be nothing to keep it alive. if there wasn't any ammonia there would no need for the benificial bacteria......

 

Yes they are producing ammonia but it should never be an amount you would be able to test for. The ammonia being produced by fish is constantly being eaten by the bacteria. This is why you should only have an ammonia and nitrite reading in the very beginning, while the bacterial colonies are forming. After they are established you should no longer be able to detect ammonia in your water.

If you constantly have an ammonia reading on your tank then there's a problem.

 

sccichlids I'm not sure you're completely understanding the nitrogen cycle and how it works. Like Anthony said after cycling a tank you should not have an ammonia reading even though the fish produce ammonia because the bb eats the ammonia as it's produced

My cichlid tank has been running for over 2 years and minus the first few weeks I had the tank I have not had an ammonia reading since then and I test every week just to give me something to do

 

i totally understand the nitrogen cycle. i did not say you would get an ammonia reading.

anthony said "Right... Your water should not have ammonia and nitrites in it if it's cycled." meaning there is NO ammonia or nitrates.

the bacteria stays alive because it is eating the ammonia produced by the fish in the tank....no ammonia no bacteria.

 

So what are you debating

 

You think Anthony and YC are saying that there is no ammonia. There is but so little you cant read it. Because the BB are constantly feeding over them. That´s what I got out of discussion.

 

Right Guido, exactly right.

 

Right not absolutely 0 but not any that's traceable

 

Might have gotten a wee bit off track on this. There is very minimal BB in the water column. To transfer water from one tank to another for the purposes of "seeding" is a mute point. There will not be enough BB to do it. There is hardly (if any) NH3 detectable as the BB has already broken it down...it's spent. As we know, the BB is on objects within (media, substrate, decor, etc). When establishing a new tank, you simply move over the "objects" in freshly treated water (preferred). The fish will then supply the waste to feed the already "seeded" BB.

The only time using old water is really beneficial is when you will be moving/upgrading tanks. Say you are upgrading from a 20 to a 55. Then you transfer over everything including water as that is what the fish are currently exposed to.

Not saying you can't use "dirty" water, just that there is no added benefit when it comes to cycling a tank.

 

just what i said

 

Not exactly but if that makes you feel better