From scratch biological cycle

Pavo71

Pavo71

got moonshine?
Sep 22, 2009
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55
St Louis MO
I have a 120 gallon tank that has been sitting full for a week and obviously has not started the bacterial colony necessary for ammonia and nitrite processing.

I am planning on using this for local native species.

If the fish carry the bacterial inoculation for the tank, can I just throw a single bluegill from the lake in or do I need to go the the LFS to get some feeder gold fish to start the cycle?

If I have to go to the LFS, how many of those little feeders do you guys think I will need?
 
Ummmm its best to do a fishless cycle if at all possible. You cant toss anyfish into a tank and make it instantly cycled the bacteria colony grows on the surfaces of plants rocks dirt and well glass and the filter media when it comes to the home aquaria. There is a thread discussing how to do a fishless cycle. Should read it. Ill look for that link
 
Ok if you do a fishless cycle, where does the bacteria come from, it is not like it will spontaneously create itself if you throw ammonia in the tank?

The inoculation has to come from somewhere, I started with sterile everything.
 
The water, air, and equipment will have enough exposure to natural bacterial to get a colony started. (Especially if you touch anything). The world is a dirty place, and unless your fish are in a military regulated clean-room you shouldn't have much trouble.
 
there ya go.. airborne
bacteria are amazing little creatures
 
Like people say, the spores of the bacteria are in the air all around us, on speck of dust, on you hands.

Of course there are not very many, so it takes a while for them to build up in the tank. If you can seed the tank with a population of live bacteria (gravel or filter media) from a working tank then you speed up the cycle process a lot.

If you are going to cycle with fish, just start with a few small hardy ones. You only want a small amount of ammonia going into the system. That way it builds up slowly, and hopefully the cycle starts before it becomes dangerous. Once you have some level of cycle it's easy to build up the amount as you add more fish. It's those first couple of weeks when you have practically none that is dangerous.

Fishless cycling is of course safer, even if you do it wrong, no fish will die.

Ian
 
This is a bit off topic,but bluegill are schoolers,and a 120 is not big enough for them.
 
Mind you, waiting for them to come in from the air is hit and miss. Folk are right though; fish won't bring the bacteria in. They're used as ammonia source, not a bacterial source. Best source is filter media from an established tank.
 
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