Hi again becca,
umm, you said
"1) Setup the tank (with gravel, decorations are not needed at this stage).
2) Add water (5 gallons from my 30-Gallon tank, 70, dechlorinated - obviously - from the tap)
3) Grab a couple of handfuls of gravel from 30-Gallon, place in Knee-High stockings and hang inside the tank.
4) Start filter and wait till the next day.
Starting on the next day, I should monitor water levels and begin adding Ammonia until I see a NitrIte spike. Once the Nitrite levels are 0 and I have my Nitrate spikes, I do a 50% water change, make sure all levels are 0, then add my fish"
Sorry, I really cant figure out how to use the quote thing
anyway, my point is that i would not wait before adding ammonia, you dont want to starve the bacteria overnight. Im not sure how long they can go without, but i wouldnt chance it. Also, (anyone correct me if they think otherwise) you dont want the stockings "hanging" in the middle of the tank, have them in contact with your filter media or gravel so the bacteria can spread.
Lastly, luxum commented that fishless cycling was only hard if you made it complicated, I suppose that is true to some degree, but IMO, there are some pretty nifty biocycles and reactions happening in there, and we dont really understand them all. I mean, people are still arguing over exactly what kind of bacteria it is. Like, I think I didnt complicate my cycle, but there were some wierd things happening there. Anyway, hope this all helps! Also, to give you some hope, a few days ago I thought the tank would be a toxic dump forever, now we have some beautiful dragonhead guppies in there, and two of the cutest little panda corys!! hooray!
umm, you said
"1) Setup the tank (with gravel, decorations are not needed at this stage).
2) Add water (5 gallons from my 30-Gallon tank, 70, dechlorinated - obviously - from the tap)
3) Grab a couple of handfuls of gravel from 30-Gallon, place in Knee-High stockings and hang inside the tank.
4) Start filter and wait till the next day.
Starting on the next day, I should monitor water levels and begin adding Ammonia until I see a NitrIte spike. Once the Nitrite levels are 0 and I have my Nitrate spikes, I do a 50% water change, make sure all levels are 0, then add my fish"
Sorry, I really cant figure out how to use the quote thing
anyway, my point is that i would not wait before adding ammonia, you dont want to starve the bacteria overnight. Im not sure how long they can go without, but i wouldnt chance it. Also, (anyone correct me if they think otherwise) you dont want the stockings "hanging" in the middle of the tank, have them in contact with your filter media or gravel so the bacteria can spread.
Lastly, luxum commented that fishless cycling was only hard if you made it complicated, I suppose that is true to some degree, but IMO, there are some pretty nifty biocycles and reactions happening in there, and we dont really understand them all. I mean, people are still arguing over exactly what kind of bacteria it is. Like, I think I didnt complicate my cycle, but there were some wierd things happening there. Anyway, hope this all helps! Also, to give you some hope, a few days ago I thought the tank would be a toxic dump forever, now we have some beautiful dragonhead guppies in there, and two of the cutest little panda corys!! hooray!
