Q & A

I have received some questions that I would like to address, with the first being the proper cycling of a new aquarium. Keep in mind this is all anecdotal - I am not an official authority on the topic and have no fancy degrees - I am simply relaying information that I have verified through my own experience over 25 years. I have killed a lot of fish in my time! ;-p



If you set up a new tank, get the filter running, substrate in place, heater going, plants planted, etc., you are not technically cycling the tank. Even if you place beneficial bacteria in the tank it won't be cycled without a source of biological waste to feed it. The bacteria will die and you'll start over, with the process not beginning until you have a source of nitrogenous waste that will feed bacterial colonies.


However, if it is a planted tank you desire, there is a lot to be said for getting the tank "established" with plants - a LOT of them - prior to adding fish. Plants need nutrients as well, but they can certainly get started, especially with the judicious use of fertilizer, sparingly. The more plants you have to start with the better things will go in the tank. It is typical (I have done it plenty of times) to plant a few plants and assume they'll grow, fill in, and slowly create the look you are going for. I am of the opinion that a cycle goes much easier if you have a ton of plants. Go ahead and load 'er up.


Another benefit is that this will hopefully obviate the evil algae issue, as the plants will be starving out any algae spores that are present (they're there, trust me, just waiting for an excess of one or more nutrients and any available light).


If you DO have a source for beneficial bacteria, such as gravel, I'd place it in the filter, if your filter is one that can accommodate it (in a piece of pantyhose or similar bag) and do so when you add fish, stocking slowly so as not to overburden your beneficial bacteria. I don't find that placing bacteria-laden gravel directly on the bottom of the tank will assist the cycle in the most efficient way, since water needs to be moving over and through it quite well for it to flourish. Once the tank is established there is plenty of bacteria on and in the substrate, but for the purposes of cycling some oxygenation is helpful.


Some of the best bacteria that you can get from an established tank would be found on grody, gunky, slimy, nasty filter floss. That stuff is gold. That is what I use to cycle new tanks, and is one of the benefits of having more than one aquarium. You can cut the floss off of a used filter cartridges and rubber-band it to the frame of another, putting that in the new filter, or if your filter has a compartment for media you can just stuff it in there.


Again, this bacteria is valuable and you don't want to use it in an empty tank - it will simply die. Put it to use when you stock the tank. Start off slowly with hardy fish. It is impossible to describe the ratio of your beneficial bacteria culture start to a specific number of fish, but don't try to stock fully right away - depending on the size of the dirty floss you robbed from another tank, you could start with, say 3-4 platys for a wad of bacteria-laden floss the size of your entire hand.


There are also commercially available bacterial starts, my favorite being Bio-Spira (Marineland). This you add straight to the tank water at the same time as you are stocking your fish. It may take several days, but you are not going to have the drawn-out 6 weeks (plus) of cycle that is harmful to fish. I have done many tests with this product and use it anytime I do not have bacterial cultures already going, like setting up an aquarium for someone after I have recently cleaned out all my own filters, for example. With Bio-Spira you have the benefit of fully stocking the tank from the start, though I do not advocate doing that. (I do not work for or have any interest in the Marineland company, lol, just a satisfied customer)



I have learned over the years that aquariums attain (and require) balance, and this can only be achieved with Tincture of Time. I am not a patient person, and frankly I don't know that many patient people, but this hobby demands patience. A lot of it. Months of waiting. When I got my 150-gallon you can believe I wanted to slap a gillion fish in there pronto. It is hard to resist.


If at all possible, things will go SO much better in the long run to start out with the no-brainer, tougher fish, typically the schooling fish, and let them be for a couple of months if you can. It takes time for a new tank to settle and achieve balance, and you can't rush it. You'll have far fewer fish deaths if you can restrain yourself.