vaccuming gravel..

[gouramimommy]

does vacuuming gravel in a mid-cycle tank mess with the establishment of the nitrite-to nitrate bacteria?

thanks

 

[ronrca]

Not really in the establishment of bacteria but it takes away the "food" the the bacteria thrive on. Normally you do not have to do a water change and I would not recommend it if you are using the fishless cycle unless the nitrate concentration is too high from adding too much ammonia. However, if you are cycling using fish and your fish are really stressed by it (which normally happens), it is something you might want to do.

 

[JWright]

Water changes during the cycle won't slow it, but gravel vacs will.

When you are vacuuming the gravel, you're removing bacteria. In an established tank, there is enough bacteria that it can quickly multiply to take up the slack. When the tank is first starting out though, you should avoid doing anything that would remove any bacteria.

Since one bacteria becomes two, two becomes four, four becomes eight, etc., the more bacteria you have, the quicker you'll have more.

Josh