silly question about cycling

[rescue]

i have added bacteria from a bottle to my new 14 gallon set up as well as treated the water for chlorine etc...i heard to jump start my cycling i should add a little water from an established tank, my neighbor has a freshwater tank, can i use a little of his water added to my saltwater to jump start the cycle or will my aquarium cycle on its own with only the bacteria i have added (no fish or live rock in tank)

thank you in advance

 

[kev apsley]

well if you have added bacteria that should start the cycling process

 

[RicksReefs]

freshwater bacteria are are a different species of bacteria, they'll die in seawater. that being said, there's very few bacteria in the water column anyway. they're almost all on solid surfaces within the tank. if you want to increase the diversity of little critters in your tank, then a cup of sand from a well established tank is your best bet. you've already added the bacteria needed (hopefully) with the bottled product, now all you need to do is throw a little fish food or another organic source for the bacteria to feed on and complete the cycle. once your ammonia then nitrite drop to zero, your cycled.

 

[CarmieJo]

You can add an uncooked table shrimp and let in in the tank to get things really going. Then after you remove it add a tiny bit of food every few days until your cycle ends and you start adding critters.

Here is a really good podcast on cycling. http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/podcast-episodes/938-cycling-podcast-episode-50-a.html
If you don't have an mp3 player you can still download it and listen from your computer.

 

[Shagsbeard]

A cup of established sand from a healthy tank will go a long way to help your tank become home to all the benificial bacteria that it needs to process waste. Giving that bacteria a home, in the form of live rock, is also important. Your 14 gallon should have at least 20 lbs of live rock in it.

 

[Noon]

just dont let the shrimp stay in there too long, wont smell too fresh

 

[CarmieJo]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10201333#post10201333 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Noon
just dont let the shrimp stay in there too long, wont smell too fresh

Quite right! I usually recommend a couple of days at most.

 

[bertoni]

I wouldn't add a shrimp to a tank with live rock. There's no point. In this case, there's no live rock, but I don't understand what you're trying to do. What filter media do you want to make live? In any case, a tiny bit of fish food now and then will do the job.

As far as adding water from another tank, that's not likely to be all that useful, for reasons stated. The water might transfer some diseases, though, although in this case, since your friend's tank is freshwater, they'll all die quickly anyway.

 

[happyface888]

I asked before that bateria from a bottle isnt the best stuff, doesnt do much but not sure.

 

[RicksReefs]

it depends on the who makes the bottle. I've used and sell fritzyme #9 and the cycle averages 3-7 days.

 

[rescue]

yes i added the food and will now just relax well it cycles over the next week or so