Lol... I attended UC Santa Cruz from '81 - '87. Someday I'll go back and finish off a degree... For about the last 20 years there have been various cultures (FritZyme#7, etc) that you can add to a new tank to "seed" the gravel with bacters. They work fairly well. :-)
Back in the 80's I belonged to the Pacific Coast Cichlidae Association - it was great fun to hang out and talk fish once a month with some serious fishheads, some who would travel the world taking pictures and talking with the big professional breeders / researchers.
Re: Thank you sir.. added
For about the last 20 years there have been various cultures (FritZyme#7, etc) that you can add to a new tank to "seed" the gravel with bacters. They work fairly well. :-)
Back in the 80's I belonged to the Pacific Coast Cichlidae Association - it was great fun to hang out and talk fish once a month with some serious fishheads, some who would travel the world taking pictures and talking with the big professional breeders / researchers.