Fishless Cycle With Mature Media

[Halo2928]

Hi, just need some help. I have set up my 30L tank and have put some mature filter media along with the new media in the filter. My question is that is the tank fully cycled or will i have to do a cycle?

I did a test in the morning (before putting the mature media in)

PH:6.6
Ammonia:0.25 ppm

I have not dosed any ammonia therefore i think the ammonia present came from plants

 

[Aqua Tom]

Unless your filter is completely full with mature media you will have to cycle. You should dose ammonia straight away as the bacteria will soon start dying off if not fed. But once you start cycling it should hopefuly be a quick one.

Tom

 

[Halo2928]

Unless your filter is completely full with mature media you will have to cycle. You should dose ammonia straight away as the bacteria will soon start dying off if not fed. But once you start cycling it should hopefuly be a quick one.

Tom

Im putting fish food in there as later today im buying some ammonia(hopefully) , any ideas how long the cycle will take?

 

[This Old Spouse]

Actually, you don't have to have all mature media in order for this method to work. You only need about 1/3 of the media to be mature. It will seed the other media. We have 8 tanks running, and they were all started with the mature media method. We filled each with warm, dechlorinated water, started up the filters with the mature media, and within an hour or so things were fine and we added fish.