Moving from 10g to 36g...bacteria Question

Moving from 15g to 36g...bacteria Question

I had a small 15g high tank that sprung a leak near the top and was just old and unatractive. All the fish but one has died over the last few months (I've wanted to replace the tank) but I kept the tank running to keep the bacteria alive in the gravel (undergravel filter with lift tube and penquin bio wheel).

I dipped the water out of the old unit until it was just gravel left. Then spooned the old gravel into the new tank (on top of undergravel filter), then added additional gravel. I added the old gravel to hopefully get a jump start on my cycle.

I then began adding straight tap water (have a water softener, live in FL...very hard water) into the tank. When it was full I turned on the pump to start the lift tubes running and started the new (larger) penquin bio/mech filter. At this time I added the instructed amount of water conditioner (Tetra Aqua Safe) to remove chloramine/chlorine.

Question: Since I was stupid and forgot to treat the water prior to dumping it in the tank, did this kill all the bacteria I moved over from the old gravel?

Thanks, Ron

The tank was never completly empty. It had 1 fish left in it. I moved that fish to the new tank and it's still alive.

No, will get one tommorrow.

FisheyLisa said:

Is the old gravel completely covered by the new? If so the bacteria will soon die, unless the undergravel filter balances this by drawing stuff (ammonia) down into the gravel.

Click to expand...

I thought I was doing the right thing by putting the old/seeded gravel on the bottom next to the filter plate.. Doh!

After added several bags of gravel on top of the old stuff, I did "mix" it up a little by pushing plastic plant bases a couple of rock features deep into the gravel which caused a cloudy mess. Do you think this was enough to keep the old stuff alive? I do have two lift tubes with bubblers in each one running. I'll get a test kit and see what I'm working with and post tomorrow what I find.

BTW, it's awesome to get such a fast and interested repsonse from this group!

Thanks, Ron