mature tank with bacteria?? help

[ericklee]

i heard people talking about "mature" tankes with "necessary bacteria", what does it really mean? or should i ask how long does it take for a tank to mature and have its neccessary bacterias?
Also, i have 4 fishes in my tank with a suker fish thats 5, would the suker fish eat all of the poops? or wut do i do?

P.S. i've just started my 28g tank a week ago, im a freshwater starter.

 

[Rbishop]

The sucker fish does not eat the poops. They scavange the bottom for bits of food or algae. No fish will remove the poop. That is your job, by doing gravel vacs.

"Cycling" a tank means developing the proper bacteria to convert ammonia to nitrites, nitrites to nitrates, and you will do water changes to remove the nitrates.

A mature tank, IMO, will take 6-9 months to establish its self.


You sound as if you are doing a fishy cycle?

Do you have a good liquid test kit? You need to ensure you are keeping ammonia and nitrites less than .25

 

[ericklee]

i don't have a liquid test kit. but i'll make sure i buy one soon, thanks for the information!!

 

[Hooked Newbie]

i don't have a liquid test kit. but i'll make sure i buy one soon, thanks for the information!!

You may already know this, but Petsmart will honor their online prices (which are generally cheaper) in store. So, printout the items you plan on getting (I'd recommend the API Master kit which was recommended to me) and take it to the store. May only be a few bucks each time, but savings add up!

Welcome to AC! Keep the questions coming, the folks here are great and saved my fish and my sanity!

 

[jpappy789]

Defnitely go the API masterkit way!

Read up on cycling...rb has already provided the basic info. I believe there is a sticky in the newb section...

 

[slipstreamv2]

If you're going to buy a decent amount of dry goods anyway, you may want to consider bigalsonline.com. I'm just getting back into the hobby, but I remember when I ordered from them before they had some really good prices.

 

[jessicar613]

This sticky will explain a lot to you, check it out- I thnk it's rb's lol

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

 

[Xavi]

Find out what your sucker fish is. If it is a common pleco, it will out grow you tank.

Welcome to the hobby. Ask lots of questions when you need to, you have definately found the best to do it.

 

[jm1212]

what fish do you have in the tank besides the sucker fish?

if you end up doign a fishy cycle, you will need to keep the ammoin aand nitrites very low, below 0.25, to make sure that it has as minimal effect on the fish as possible.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

A mature tank, IMO, will take 6-9 months to establish its self.

after that amount of time the tank should be really stable as long as you keep up with cleaning and water changes. there many fish that are sensitive to spikes in the water that should be held of until the tank becomes established.