Sally writes that everyone is always looking for a short cut when starting up a new salt-water aquarium. Looking at an empty tank for four weeks or longer can be very exasperating. Even when you add a few mollies or similar “junk” fish to the tank to get the nitrogen cycle started, you still wonder if you will ever get the nitrite level down to the safe point allowed to permit the addition of your newly purchased salt-water fish. Although there are numerous methods for innoculating a new salt-water tank, one way that works quite effectively is the transfer of the filter medium from a healthy established tank’s power filter.

As a rule, Sally does not utilize power filters on her salt-water tanks, except for occasional diatoming, although outside power filtration has been found to be very effective, especially if used in conjunction with undergravel filtration. Her method of innoculation is as follows: First, Sally runs an outside power filter containing only filter floss material for a week on the established tank after having stirred up a portion of the top layer of the dolomite substrate. The floating debris collects very nicely on the filter floss and sometimes algae will even take hold and start to grow on the floss as well. She then takes this same filter and places it on the tank that she wants to innoculate.

If you have other salt-water tanks around, Sally finds that the water that you remove from your normal water changes is excellent to use as part of the water that you add to the new tank. She will normally leave the filter running on the new tank for about a week and, with the addition of a half dozen mollies to the tank, three weeks is about the average length of time for the completion of the nitrogen cycle. Incidentally, this method of transferring filter material can also be used to condition a fresh-water tank.