How do I keep a mature filter alive in a fishless tank ?

[Alan Silver]

Hello,

Well, having had various setbacks, I finally got our new tank ready for
action. I had the filter (Eheim Ecco 2235) plugged into the old tank for
a couple of months, so it has a mature bacteria colony.

On Monday night, I switched the filter over to the new tank, ready for a
trip to the breeder to get the fish on Tuesday. Unfortunately my wife
took ill and we never got there. It looks like it's going to be next
week (at least) before we will get the fish in.

So, how do I keep the bacteria alive ? Is it as simple as dropping some
food in every couple of days ? If so, how much ? I don't want to pollute
the water either !!

Thanx for any tips.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

[Rick]

"Alan Silver" > wrote in message
...
> Hello,
>
> Well, having had various setbacks, I finally got our new tank ready for
> action. I had the filter (Eheim Ecco 2235) plugged into the old tank for
> a couple of months, so it has a mature bacteria colony.
>
> On Monday night, I switched the filter over to the new tank, ready for a
> trip to the breeder to get the fish on Tuesday. Unfortunately my wife
> took ill and we never got there. It looks like it's going to be next
> week (at least) before we will get the fish in.
>
> So, how do I keep the bacteria alive ? Is it as simple as dropping some
> food in every couple of days ? If so, how much ? I don't want to pollute
> the water either !!
>
> Thanx for any tips.
>
> --
> Alan Silver
> PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

its that simple Alan. Drop in a pinch of food just like you were feeding the
fish and then do a water change and gravel vac prior to introducing the new
fish.

Rick

[Alan Silver]

In message >, Rick
> writes
>its that simple Alan. Drop in a pinch of food just like you were
>feeding the fish and then do a water change and gravel vac prior to
>introducing the new fish.

Thanx. It made sense, but I like to be sure ;-)

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

[Dick]

On Thu, 12 Feb 2004 17:35:46 +0000, Alan Silver
> wrote:

>In message >, Rick
> writes
>>its that simple Alan. Drop in a pinch of food just like you were
>>feeding the fish and then do a water change and gravel vac prior to
>>introducing the new fish.
>
>Thanx. It made sense, but I like to be sure ;-)


Cleaver solution. I wonder if the food and no fish on a new tank
would work. I wrestled with this as I wanted to setup a quarantine
tank with no fish, but ready to use when needed. I ended up keeping
fish in the tank after a black molly dumped over 50 fry into the tank.
Wouldn't you know it, almost all lived.

[Alan Silver]

>>>its that simple Alan. Drop in a pinch of food just like you were
>>>feeding the fish and then do a water change and gravel vac prior to
>>>introducing the new fish.
>>
>>Thanx. It made sense, but I like to be sure ;-)
>
>Cleaver solution. I wonder if the food and no fish on a new tank
>would work. I wrestled with this as I wanted to setup a quarantine
>tank with no fish, but ready to use when needed. I ended up keeping
>fish in the tank after a black molly dumped over 50 fry into the tank.
>Wouldn't you know it, almost all lived.

Out of interest, this does work for fishless cycling. I have heard of
people trying it with success.

I have used ammonium bicarbonate for fishless cycling. This was fast and
easy. I guess any source of ammonia should work.

--
Alan Silver
PSG Fish Tanks - http://fish.alansilver.co.uk/

[MartinOsirus]

>easy. I guess any source of ammonia should work.

thats right! no need to fuss with pure ammonia and getting the dose right -
just use fish food