Mature Media Any Special Things I Should Do?

[Tropical_Fish]

I'm off to fetch some mature pond media later to put in my tropical tank filter.

The pond media is described as cut up pipe bits?

I'll be getting a handfull of these bits plus some filter gunk, it'll take me about half an hour to get home after picking it up - I can then dump it straight in the filter.

Any tips to help keep the bacteria alive?

I've got an external fluval 304 filter, I'm going to put the media and gunk in the bottom basket of the three, (the first basket that water hits).


I'll take an ammonia reading before adding the gunk - then take 1 12 hours or so after to see if it made any difference.

At my last test the ammonia hadn't moved at all ( I first put ammonia in on monday - infact I only put ammonia in on Monday - there hasn't been the need to top up yet!)

 

[zesty]

I'm off to fetch some mature pond media later to put in my tropical tank filter.

The pond media is described as cut up pipe bits?

I'll be getting a handfull of these bits plus some filter gunk, it'll take me about half an hour to get home after picking it up - I can then dump it straight in the filter.

Any tips to help keep the bacteria alive?

I've got an external fluval 304 filter, I'm going to put the media and gunk in the bottom basket of the three, (the first basket that water hits).


I'll take an ammonia reading before adding the gunk - then take 1 12 hours or so after to see if it made any difference.

At my last test the ammonia hadn't moved at all ( I first put ammonia in on monday - infact I only put ammonia in on Monday - there hasn't been the need to top up yet!)

From my experience adding mature media is no guarantee of success. I added 4 pieces of mature filter sponge from my lfs and 2 pieces from my goldfish tank and I am still in a fishless cycle and adding ammonia every day. You have nothing to loose by adding the media/gunk you have but dont be too disappointed if have ammonia readings when you test 12 hours later.

From what I have been told the bacteria in the media can die /reduce from the shock of being moved but if I were you I would just try and move it as quickly as possible and keep your fingers crossed.

 

[Tropical_Fish]

Moved it earlier, was less than an hour between removing it and putting it in my filter - so hopefully some survived. Not expecting it to replace the cycle but any help from it would be nice.

Just got my fingers crossed that I start to see a change soon - I thought by this sort of point I would atleast be seeing some kind of reduction in ammonia levels.

 

[sjolliff]

Moved it earlier, was less than an hour between removing it and putting it in my filter - so hopefully some survived. Not expecting it to replace the cycle but any help from it would be nice.

Just got my fingers crossed that I start to see a change soon - I thought by this sort of point I would atleast be seeing some kind of reduction in ammonia levels.

Good luck, iv been fishless cycling for 19 days with hardly anydrop in ammonia i picking up 2 tetratec ex1200 foam pads sunday, which have been in for 18months, if the media is put in a airtight bag with somw aquarium water it should be ok,
post up you results, very interested to see for myself

 

[zesty]

I think it did help my kick start my cycle, just not as much as I thought. Good luck and hope you get some good results when you do your first test.