How to set up 125g

[lethalp]

I am going to be setting up my 125 g tonight :p I am washing off the gravel and giving the inside of the tank one last wipe down.(its a little dusty from sitting so long:( ) No soap of course. So my question is, I have a 29g established tank, to seed the new one do I have to put the gravel from it in the bottum of new one? Someone said I could put it in some panty hose and hang it on the sideof the tank. Can I do that? Has any one every use bio or biro spira? It is supposed to be bacteria to set up a new tank. I don't have any but wondered if it was any good. I also bought some special "cichlid sand" It was $20 for 20 lbs. and it too is supposed to have friendly cichlid bacteria in it. Has anyone ever used that? I am just trying to make sure I have everything ready. I am a little nervous, this is my first big tank and I don't want to mess it up. Any last minute advice would be much appreciated. Thanks! Wish me luck!

[mkpeters6]

the only advice i can give is take your time, and dont start filling until u are positive you have everything the way you want--it always seems like i rush when putting up a new tank and i always forget something

good luck

[mtdewlover]

I would think panty hose would be ok. I know they make a special bag you can get at a pet store that is like panty hose. I have those in my filter. That sounds like a great idea putting gravel in it. I used sponges from established tanks and threw them in my new tank to help. Just sqeeze all the good stuff out and let them float around.

[TKOS]

You just need the top layer of gravel as this is where most of the bacteria is. Panty hose will work fine. Place it in the flow of the filter outtake.

As for the sand. If it is dry I doubt it contains any good bacteria at all. Be careful though as it may contain buffers to make your water hard. This is good for certain cichlid and not good for others. You can use regular playsand from the hardware store as well and it is much cheaper.

Biospira has gotten very good reviews. Make sure to follow the directions exactly and you will be able to fully stock your tank in less than 24 hours. In fact you have to stock it very soon after putting the biospira in or else the good bacteria will start to die. It is the only proven bacteria product to work so far.

Otherwise is you use the gravel and filter from your old tank then make sure to only have a fish load the same as the old tank and slowly add new fish.

[dcallen]

Hello,

Wow, a 125 gallon tank grats. I almost got a 125 instead of my 70 gallon and now I wish I had. That said I have used the Bio Spira and it worked like a charm, I agree with TKOS just read the directions carefully you will need I believe at least two large bottles for a tank that size but I'm not totally sure just check the bottle for the amount needed, but it did work nicely for me. In addition I also got some good bacteria water from a sponge filter on an established tank at a local LFS it helped but not as well as the Bio Spira did. I dumped some of the live bacteria from the sponge filter and the Bio Spira directly into the tank and some of each into one of my filters, and by the next evening the water had cycled and all water parameters were normal. Good luck, I hope this helps.

[Tightdog1]

i would use the biospiara or whatever its called and also use a sponge of use the panty hose thingy with the gravel, both should do the job fine and in little time, but use time to your advantage, the longer you let it sit anf cycle the better it will turn out.

[TKOS]

Except that if you use Biospira you have 24 hours to add fish or you will start to loose all of that benificial bacteria. Any bacteria you add to a tank must have a food source or will die. This can be fish or pure ammonia but must be something. I believe that the biospira bottle says to add fish within an hour of adding the product, but once again pay strict attention to the directions listed and you should not have any problems.