which fish shop provides mulm, old tank water, or used filter sponge?

**deeloke** · 26th Dec 2009, 00:25

hi

Does anyone know of a fish shop providing mulm, old tank water, or used filter sponge to people starting a new tank?

My old tank has some algae problems so I don't want to transfer mulm from there.

The fish shop I usually go to doesn't provide this service to its customers.

I stay in the West area but I'm willing to travel.

-dee

**stormhawk** · 26th Dec 2009, 03:02

Hi dee,

I don't think any LFS here will do this. If you want to seed your new tank with bacteria, you can probably try one of the bacteria culture products. Some people go with Tetra/Sera/Waterlife, depending on their personal choice. I use Bacterlife from Waterlife to seed my tanks now, especially newly set-up ones, after a recommendation from a fellow AQ-er.

**Fuzzy** · 26th Dec 2009, 05:29

Actually almost all of the traditional uncle type fish shops will happily give you some mulm or filter floss from their goldfish tanks.

Like bro stormhawk said though its probably better (and safer) to just use a bacteria boosting product like Bacterlife, or just drop in a piece of market prawn and wait for the tank to cycle.

You never know what nasties might be lurking inside LFS filters and mulm.

**seanskye** · 26th Dec 2009, 09:23

Agreed. You never know what type of parasites, eggs and bacteria exist in the water from the LFS. Long ago, I had outbreaks of ick, mouth/fin rot and hydras in my previously healthy tanks when I introduced new fishes together with the water that came in the bags.

**alien54d** · 26th Dec 2009, 11:41

c'mon be patient and cycle your tank

LFS mulm has nasties you might never know ...

or an old-style LFS owner will think you are nuts ...

**Ebi** · 27th Dec 2009, 00:58

Hi dee-san,

Thought I saw something call "Tank Mud" for starting a new tank at C328. Not sure exactly what it is or how much is needed or how it is used or is it for FW Tank or Reef Tank. I was browsing through the LFS stock looking for something else and came across it today.

If I happen to go there again, will take a closer look. Or maybe if any bro/sis happen to drop by can help dee check it out.
By the way C328 not open on Sunday.

**eviltrain** · 27th Dec 2009, 01:40

how much mums you need? what tank are you using the mums for? maybe i can help you culture some of them and you just pick up from me ( 3 feet crs/twfr , 4 feet community tank, 5 feet arowana tank )

**deeloke** · 27th Dec 2009, 09:57

hi eviltrain. Thanks to much for your kind offer. I need just a little mulm from a healthy tank, the amount one would produce when cleaning the tank anyway (i.e. a liter or so of water with residue mulm in it. Let me know when a good time for you is.

**deeloke** · 27th Dec 2009, 10:23

hi all
Thanks for all your advise and good will. Based on the responses to my post, I can see some people prefer "fishless" cycling to the natural mulm method of cycling.

Let me explain why I prefer the natural mulm method.

"Fishless" cycling takes a lot of time, and puts your tank under a lot of unnecessary stress which is not good for plants, fish or the tank.

The Natural mulm method employs lots of plants from the start. By adding fresh mulm to the new gravel and filter you introduce a variety of good, mature bacteria. By adding plant nutrients, CO2, and light, the plants do their part in establishing a good environment too.

1 day after set up you can add herbivores which avoids the need of introducing fish food.

Twice weekly large (up to 50%) water changes promote stability and should be performed this way for the first 4-6 weeks.

It's not a matter of patience, IMHO, the mulm method is simply a neater way of going about cycling a new tank. Sure, there are risks involved, but in my assessment, the benefits outweigh the risks.

I am sure there are good, reliable sources of mulm in SG, and I thought this post would promote these sources. Surely not all LFS are unreliable? Common sense dictates that fresh live mulm is more reliable than packaged products that sit on the shelf for months/years.

Again, thanks for your posts and ideas. Perhaps in the future you can consider the Mulm method too, however your milage may vary (YMMV).

**griffinkid** · 27th Dec 2009, 13:40

its qute true that fishless cycle takes quite awhile... but maybe i can suggest that you might want to try using cycling fishes instead. Pick some hardy fishes like Golden Pencilfish (which is the one i used and still alive and kicking in my tank after so long!). They just look cute and pretty and may be a good addition to your community tank. And i do agree with the part its better to culture your own probiotics than to take directly from LFS... but if no choice i would think that it would be wiser to pick those cleaner LFS so that you won't innoculate your new tank with undesirable and nasty bacteria or parasites... XD Just my 2 cents worth!!!

**stormhawk** · 27th Dec 2009, 14:37

Well if you feel so strongly about using mulm, just go to the LFS and ask for a squeezing of the water+gunk from any of their internal filters. They usually just use box filters with filter wool stuffed in.

It is not that hard to seed your tank without mulm either. You don't even need those bacterial cultures. Just buy some hardy plants tied on driftwood/coconut husk and drop them in. More often than not, these plants will come with the bacteria you want. How long it takes to fully colonise your filter is another issue altogether.