We have been in your shoes before.
You are just getting into the aquarium hobby and you bought your new aquarium kit and have it all set up and ready to go.
But, you discover that you have to wait at least 2 weeks to let the tank cycle so that beneficial bacteria can grow.
Good News! We have made a great discovery…
As long as your aquarium heater/chiller has been running long enough for the specified temperature for your fish, you can put your fish in the tank right away as long as you are dosing with Seachem Prime and Stability, or you have acquired some filtered media that already has beneficial bacteria for your filter.
Yes! You heard us right!
Okay, I know this sounds fishy so let us explain…
The Normal Way To Add Fish
Usually, you are supposed to set up your tank with everything you are going to have except for the fish and sit there and stare at it until bad bacteria grew.
The bad bacteria would produce ammonia, which in turn would cause beneficial bacteria to grow that eats the ammonia.
Once the ammonia levels go down due to the beneficial bacteria, you could then add your fish, sometimes waiting for as long as a month.
Dither Fish – Sometimes, people would put what is called a dither fish to produce poop right away and speed up the ammonia process. A dither fish was pretty much sacrificial when used this way.
Ghost Feeding – Some people would add fish food to the tank which would also speed up the beneficial bacteria process.
Ammonia Directly – Some people would buy ammonia in a bottle and add it to their tank to speed up beneficial bacteria growth.
All of these ways take time, probably at least two weeks or more.
Never fear, as with anything else in life, usually, new discoveries come along that help change the way that people do things…
How To Use Seachem Prime and Stability To Add Fish To Your Tank Immediately
We know when you go to the fish store and get all of the stuff that you need for an aquarium, especially your first, it can be pretty exciting, so who wants to wait for a tank to cycle?
Seachem Prime is basically known as a water conditioner that takes all of the chlorine out of your tank water.
You should know by now that you always have to dechlorinate your water before adding it to your tank.
What sets Seachen Prime apart from your normal water conditioner is that Seachem Prime also detoxifies ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate so they won’t harm your fish.
Detoxifying means removing toxic substances or qualities. This means that Seachem Prime removes the toxic qualities of nitrite, nitrate, and ammonia thus rendering them harmless to your fish.
Seachem Stability is added to your tank along with prime because it helps establish beneficial bacteria much faster.
Dosage – Stability is recommended to dose daily, while Prime is recommended to dose every other day. However, Prime is safe to dose up to five times the recommended dosage, so you can dose both Prime and Stability daily so you don’t lose track.
Ammonia Spike – You will have an ammonia spike from all of the fish poop right away but don’t panic because Seachem Prime will protect your fish from the ammonia.
You don’t want to do a water change, just leave the ammonia alone so it can do its thing and cause the beneficial bacteria to grow that will eat the ammonia.
Anyways, long story short, Seachem Prime will protect your fish from ammonia until beneficial bacteria grow in your tank and consume the ammonia.
How To Use Filtered Media To Put Fish In Your Tank Right Away
When you first get your tank from the fish store, you can ask the personnel there if they can give you any cycled media.
This is something out of an old filter or filter that they are currently using that already has beneficial bacteria in it.
Sometimes if you’re buying a filter separate for your new aquarium, you can ask the fish store if you can buy them a new filter for one of their tanks and exchange it for the filter they are already using.
Sometimes, they can just squeeze some gunk out of their spnge filter ot give to you.
This way you instantly have beneficial bacteria in your tank so you can add fish right away.
The fish store will be fine because their tank will have beneficial bacteria in other parts of the tank like the glass, gravel, etc.
You can also ask someone you know that has a fish tank if you can do the same thing.
You may even be able to advertise in the classifieds to buy someone a new filter and pay a small fee to let you exchange filters with them.
Anyway you can, as long as you get the beneficial bacteria in your tank, you will be fine.
Personal Testimony: We have used these tried and true methods so we are happy to share them with you.
Petaquariums.com
Conclusion
Some people say you cna add live plants to a tank as well and you chould have beneficial bacteria right away but we chose to omit this as we wern’t too sure.
You should be fine with the Seachem Prime and Stability, and filtered media all three together if you would like, or just use Seachem Prime or filtered media seperately.
Now that you know how to add fish to your tank right away, its time to go shopping!
References: