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Can you use Bacter AE to cycle a tank?

With Bacter AE, you can add live bacteria in your tank. By doing so, you enhance the water quality and provide a food source for your pet shrimps. So, can you also use this product to cycle your tank?

You can find out in this article at Aquarium Blueprints.

What are the benefits of Bacter AE?

The main purpose of Bacter AE is to promote the growth of live bacteria. This product contains bacteria that will be activated once they are added to water. Furthermore, it also comes with the necessary amino acids and enzymes to feed the bacteria colonies as well as help make your tank water more suitable for shrimps.

Can Bacter AE to cycle a tank?

Bacter AE won’t cycle a tank on its own as it doesn’t contain the beneficial bacteria colonies that will consume ammonia and nitrites. With that said, you can use it with other products to cycle your tank for pet shrimp.

How to use Bacter AE when cycling a tank

In order to use Bacter AE when cycling a tank, you can try taking the following steps:

1. First off, we recommend getting Seachem Prime as it will help with removing chlorine and chloramine from the tap water. This water conditioner will also temporarily detoxify ammonia, nitrites and nitrates if you run into problems down the line.

Another product that you might want to get is Aquavitro Seed, which will add live beneficial bacteria colonies that will consume the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in your tank.

If you haven’t done so already, make sure you have some fish food or shrimp food available as you need these to provide ammonia in order to feed your growing bacteria colonies.

2. Once you got all the necessary products, start by setting up your tank and filling it with water.

3. You then need to dose Seachem Prime in order to remove the chlorine and chloramine from your tap water.

For Prime, you should dose 5 mL of the water conditioner for every 50 gallons (or 200 liters) of tank water.

4. Afterwards, you can add Aquavitro Seed.

For the first dosage, you should add 5 mL of Seed for every 10 gallons (or 40 liters) of tank water.

5. You should then add Bacter AE to your tank.

If you need help with identying the recommended amount, you can take a look at this dosage guide.

We suggest that you only add Bacter AE once during the cycling process as there is no need to add more since you won’t have shrimps that will consume the biofilm.

6. Finally, add a small pinch of fish food or shrimp food to the tank to kick start the cycling process.

7. Over the next 6 days, you need to continue adding a pinch of food as well as dose Aquavitro Seed daily.

For subsequent dosages of Seed, you can add 2.5 mL for 10 gallons (or 40 liters) of tank water.

8. On the eighth day of the cycling process, use an aquarium water testing kit in order to check the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels in your tank.

If you don’t have 0 ppm of ammonia and nitrites, then you need to continue adding food and Aquavitro Seed daily until you reach this benchmark.

9. Once you reach 0 ppm of ammonia and nitrites, makes sure that you have less than 20 ppm of nitrates. If you don’t, then you can do a major water change to get beneath that level.

10. Once the test kit shows 0 ppm of ammonia, 0 ppm of nitrite and less than 20 ppm of nitrates, your tank should be cycled.

11. You should now be able to start adding shrimps to your tank. You can also be able to start dosing Bacter AE daily as well.