Chemicals to put in tank to cycle?

[3dhuck]

I dont think there is going to be any bacteria in the water because i bought all new water and mixed the salt in. Then i took the 10 guppies i had in my other tank and put them in the new tank to start the cycle. The old tank was brackish with a salinity of 1.008. The old tank was also cycled out. So i took the filter and the bio bag with all the bacteria in it and put it in the new aquarium to aid in the cycle.

[sevenyearnight]

The types of bacteria that cycle tanks are ones that attach to surfaces, so they won't be in the water column in any significant amount anyway.
The biomedia will contain bacteria, but it's not likely that it will survive that large of a jump in SG. Especially since you are in at 1.013.

The truck range is between 1.008/1.009 and 1.012/1.014. As PP said, that is the area of changeover from FW nitrification bacteria to SW forms. If done slowly through that range, you are usually OK. If your specific gravity testing is not accurate, you could be dropping back into the densities where the bacterial types shift....
The iffy range of BW is where the types of bacteria that perform biological oxidation of ammonia through nitrite to nitrate change over to SW species, entirely different bugs.. In FW and BW up to full marine (SW), we rely on bacterial oxidation to render ammonia waste (from fish and inverts and aerobic bacteria) relatively harmless by so-called "biological filtration". Some full SW tanks do also, but in SW there are more effective techniques available. When we raise salinity/specific gravity, that range is where we have to be very careful, plus a bit on each side of that range if there is any uncertainty of what the salinity really is. In that range small changes can kill off FW bacteria, so you can lose FW bugs before the SW bugs have sufficient number to take over the job.

Fish can usually be drip-acclimated in a matter of hours if needed. Bacteria cannot. We have to allow more time for the new required colonies to grow to sufficient size and numbers to take over the whole load. That requires time in days, not just hours.

[3dhuck]

ahh makes sense now well if it does die i have a couple of guppies in there to start the cycle. thanks for all the info

[sevenyearnight]

Please don't cycle a tank with fish in it, it's unnecessary to subject them to the toxins when all you need is an ammonia source: viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28467

[Pufferpunk]

The bioload of the fish you cycle with has to equal the bioload of the fish you wish to keep in there permanently & then the cycling fish need to be removed. Cycling with fish is considered barbaric nowadays though...

viewtopic.php?f=67&t=28467

[Pufferpunk]

One minute behind you!

[sevenyearnight]

lol!

[3dhuck]

that just told me about ammonia in the tank. What about all of the beneficial bacteria that needs to be in the tank. What can i do to get that.

[sevenyearnight]

You should already have bacteria, it comes from the biomedia of your other tank that you say is cycled.
However, it would be neato if you knew and posted the parameters of said tank.

[3dhuck]

im going to pickup the api liquid test kit tomorrow and i will test it and post the parameters.

[3dhuck]

ok i have pulled the guppies from the tank and they are happy back in the old tank. What is a good source of ammonia to add to the water.