When Shall I Add Mature Filter Media On Cycle ?

[lee_essex]

hi there, a member on the forum has kindly said i can have some of his media, as what point shall i use it.





I pinched this from another post, shall i use the media right from the off ??




1 fill tank with dechlorinated water and start filter
2 Turn up heater to 30C ish is possible
3 Add ammonia to 5 ppm (5/%of ammonia soloution)*Litres of water in tank / 10 = ml of ammonia to add.
4 Wait 5 days at least then check ammonia levels
5 Keep checking till it drops to 1ppm (Could tank up to 15days!!!!)
6 Re-Add ammonia to 4ppm
7 Keep adding once ammonia drops again
8 After 2-3 days of ammonia droping to 0-1ppm start checking NitrItes
9 Once NitrItes are at 0-1ppm add ammonia and start timing until it takes 12 hours for both ammonia and nitrItes to reach 0
10 Rejoice..... Tank Cycled.





Thanks

 

[minxfishy]

hi there, a member on the forum has kindly said i can have some of his media, as what point shall i use it.





I pinched this from another post, shall i use the media right from the off ??




1 fill tank with dechlorinated water and start filter
2 Turn up heater to 30C ish is possible
3 Add ammonia to 5 ppm (5/%of ammonia soloution)*Litres of water in tank / 10 = ml of ammonia to add.
4 Wait 5 days at least then check ammonia levels
5 Keep checking till it drops to 1ppm (Could tank up to 15days!!!!)
6 Re-Add ammonia to 4ppm
7 Keep adding once ammonia drops again
8 After 2-3 days of ammonia droping to 0-1ppm start checking NitrItes
9 Once NitrItes are at 0-1ppm add ammonia and start timing until it takes 12 hours for both ammonia and nitrItes to reach 0
10 Rejoice..... Tank Cycled.





Thanks

Yes add the mature media straight away (making sure you declorinate water, before turning on the filter), if its filter squeezings, add it directly to your filter sponges, if its gravel, place some in a net/stocking and leave on top of your substrate.

 

[waterdrop]

hi there, a member on the forum has kindly said i can have some of his media, as what point shall i use it.





I pinched this from another post, shall i use the media right from the off ??




1 fill tank with dechlorinated water and start filter
2 Turn up heater to 30C ish is possible
3 Add ammonia to 5 ppm (5/%of ammonia soloution)*Litres of water in tank / 10 = ml of ammonia to add.
4 Wait 5 days at least then check ammonia levels
5 Keep checking till it drops to 1ppm (Could tank up to 15days!!!!)
6 Re-Add ammonia to 4ppm
7 Keep adding once ammonia drops again
8 After 2-3 days of ammonia droping to 0-1ppm start checking NitrItes
9 Once NitrItes are at 0-1ppm add ammonia and start timing until it takes 12 hours for both ammonia and nitrItes to reach 0
10 Rejoice..... Tank Cycled.





Thanks

3.5) Add mature media to filter
4) Personally I'd be too curious to wait 5 days and would start measuring ammonia and perhaps pH after a couple days, but I don't mean to waste your test reagents, that's just me.
5) sounds good, remember bacteria are live cells, its not a chemistry equation, so time periods vary wildly
8) I'd probably started watching my nitrites sooner (you can drip two tubes, shake at same time and use same 5min timer)
9.5) Conservatively, its ideal to then continue feeding ammonia for part or all of a week to verify it really continues to drop both within 10-12 hours and you haven't read the tea-leaves wrong.
10) Don't get so excited that you forget to feed the bacteria via either ammonia or a decent load of fish!

~~waterdrop~~

 

[andywg]

When using mature media, I add the media and then add fish straight away. Leaving any period of time without a source of ammonia will result in the bacteria population starting to drop.

Just remember that if you have 10% of a tank's media then it will allow you to keep about 10% of what that tank's bioload.