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I tore down my planted tank and dirted it today, what's the over/under on adding the fish back?
(mander.xyz)
It's a 20 long. I have 10 white cloud minnows, a few celestial danios and three pygmy cories currently at summer camp in a bucket with a sponge filter. I am trying to decide if I should leave them there and replace a gallon a day or chuck them back in the tank and watch ammonia like a hawk. I have a RO filter so water changes are no problem but I just can't decide which approach is best.
And yes, I know this could have all been prevented with better planning. Let's just stipulate that that ship has sailed.
I like to wait until I see copepods, rotifers, and detritus worms on the glass. That's how you know the base of the ecosystem is established before predators arrive. It'll look a little cloudy but the water parameters should be good. Add the fish, give it a week, then partial water change and glass scrub to get it looking clear.
On one aquarium, I had to collect and add a bit of local creek water to get it going. Probably not necessary if the sediment is healthy, but it might have been near sterilized depending on what the manufacturer does if you're getting bagged sediment from a pet store.
Oh I just did the Walstad thing and picked the woody bits out of some organic potting soil so while I have no idea what bugs are there I'm sure it's pretty far from sterile.