Very low percentage of the beneficial bacteria are in the water itself , the bacteria are on surfaces such as rock, sand, and glass. You will still need to cycle the aquarium to establish these bacteria colonies.
check the parameters, would not do a water change until cycled
Used water out of an existing system has absolutely no benefit whatsoever to a new tank! The only thing you find in used Water is Elevated Levels of nutrients depending on how good the filtration system is on the tank you take water out of. Personally, I use nothing but fresh made, 0 total dissolved solid, reverse osmosis, dionysed water.
Are the rocks and sand from an existing tank?
No I used some liferock that I had. Reason I was asking is because my nitrates are at 5ppm so I was wondering if I would need to worry about doing a water change before the tank finished cycling. My ammonia is at 2ppm already so hopefully the cycle doesn’t take too long. I’m dosing some mircobacter 7 and stability for beneficial bacteria.
I would let it cycle before any water changes.
