Adding bacterial colonies, and water changes?

[pitbos]

Hi, I am very new to the world of African Cichlid's so here is a brief run down of my tank setup

100 gallon Tank
Eheim 2028 canister filter
Crushed coral substrate


I started cycling the tank 2 weeks ago, added the chemicals to dechlorinate the water. Then added the bacterial colonies mixture and let the tank cycle.

3 days ago I added 5 Yellow Labs. Tested the water, here are the results:

pH=8.0, temp=78, ammonia=0, nitrates=0

So good so far! My question is, do I have to periodically add more of the bacterial colony solution with time? Should I add more when I do a water change? Also, when doing water changes do you guys de-cholonate the water before adding it to the tank, or can I add the new water, and then de-cholorante it inside the tank with the fish in there?

Thanks,

Michael.

[jennigypsy]

Hi Mike-
you shouldn't have to add more bacteria in an already established tank....when you 'clean' your filter media, swish it around in tank water (like the water you take out when doing a water change)....don't clean it in tap water.
You could dechlorinate the h20 either way....when I use a bucket to refill, I dechlor before I pour the bucket into the tank. When I use the python, I just add the dechlor to the tank as it fills.

[Seedy]

Along with what jennigypsy said, I would recomend only changing one half of my filter media at a time so that you don't throw out your bacteria colonies. That is why I like the Penguin filters better than the aquaclear ones (even though I use both on my tank currently), the aquaclear has sealed media bags where as the penguin allows you to change the actual media itself. This also reduces cost because you can buy your media in bulk instead of paying aquaclear for new "pre-bagged" media.

[83Street]

Watch the chemicals you pour in the water as some water conditioners that dechlorinate can kill off nitrifying bacteria. I've used NovAqua without having it disturb my colonies growing on my Emperor's BioWheel. I prefer filling a 45G Rubbermaid trash can and conditioning it in there before I siphon and let it into the tank, as opposed to pouring new water and dechlorinating in the tank. Check the directions for use on the bacterial supplement you bought as there are different directions for live bacteria, dormant bacteria, etc.. But, for most of the time you can get off fairly easily with one treatment as the bacteria self-adjusts. If there are too many, they die off from lack of food. If there is too little, the colonies will multiply to match your ammonia output.

[SGypsyMermaid]

i have never heard of dechlorinators killing off bacteria.:confused:

[Seedy]

Never heard of it either...maybe "declor" (remember that product from when you had that goldfish tank in 1st grade?) will affect your colonies...but that is a really old product...

Most water conditioners state on the bottle that they do not affect the bacteria colonies...I know this appears on both amquel and novaqua bottles...that's all I use any way...