Interested In The Differences

[This Younger Spouse]

I've never done the complete fishless cycling from scratch, with dosing the ammonia, etc., and going through those weeks of waiting

Not that I wounldn't be willing, but I just got back into tropicals awhile ago after a 25-30 year hiatus, and all three tanks I've started have been from scratch, but have been "short cut" cycles because I've used mature filter media from my spouse's tanks or, when I retired a smaller tank in favor of a larger one, the mature media from the smaller tank.

I just did this with a 20-gallon from scratch that cycled in three days.

So here's what I'd like to learn. Is there any advantage to doing a fishless cycle and building it up over weeks without using mature filter media? Is it all the same for the fish in the end? And, if it's the same in the end and the mature media can cycle a tank in a few days, you'd think an LFS might actually start selling mature media. With all those tanks in most fish stores, it could be done.

Thoughts?

Or, if I've gone off my nut, you can say that, too.

 

[StandbySetting]

It is pretty much all the same, when using mature media you're starting off with a larger quantity of bacteria, their reproduction is exponential so the more you have in the first place the faster the colony can increase in size.

Some LFS's do sell or indeed give away mature media, I wish more would but fishless cycling has only just caught on amongst members of the pet trade, so I can see it being another few years before mature media sales or donations become common.

 

[This Younger Spouse]

It is pretty much all the same, when using mature media you're starting off with a larger quantity of bacteria, their reproduction is exponential so the more you have in the first place the faster the colony can increase in size.

Some LFS's do sell or indeed give away mature media, I wish more would but fishless cycling has only just caught on amongst members of the pet trade, so I can see it being another few years before mature media sales or donations become common.

Yeah, I figured on the first part of your reply. Seemed pretty basic to me but was looking for corroboration.

As for the second part, I didn't realize that fishless cycling was new in the commercial trade. Of the LFSs we have within 4 hours, I reckon only one or two would even know about cycling with mature media, and if they have it for sale/borrow, that would surprise me. I think it's time for a bit of an ambassador trip.