Mature Media

[pops1981]

Hi

I'm New to the forum, have been reading a lot over the past few days.
I bought a tank off ebay (around 2.5x1.5 ft)
Its been sitting in my car boot as i'm debating whether to go ahead or not.
Basically from reading around the fishless cycle seems a bit daunting and i have a question regarding mature media, which is talked about a lot. i understand this is only a compliment to fishless cycling.
By media, does this mean, anything that has been in a mature tank for sometime, ie, if i am unable to find a donor, would i be ok going down to my local pet store and buying a plant or something similar?
Many thanks in advance.

 

[SwordtailLover]

First off, I'd like to say welcome to the forums! I've found many of the regulars to be quite knowledgeable and with great experience, so you're coming to the right place.

I know that when reading about a fishless cycle, it does sound daunting. Having a test kit, and doing frequent checks, and finding ammonia to add to the water, and this and that! I do understand, but when doing a fish in cycle, it is actually more daunting. Due to the lack of the bacteria to break down the NH2/NH3 (ammonia) into NO2 (nitrite), and then again into NO3 (nitrate), you are greatly putting your fish at risk. Not only can this cause death to your fish, but it can also cause numerous diseases as their immune systems will be compromised without good water quality. I am really not trying to scare you into doing a fishless cycle, and I am sorry if I do come off that way. In the end, the choice is yours.

Personally, I have done both. I was told by my LFS that my fish would be fine after a few days of running the tank. I found out, however, that they weren't, and that the fish were looking sick and had ich, and eventually ended up dying. : ( After reading and reading, I had found out that you have to do a lot of water changes to try and keep the toxic chemical levels down, and I am now currently cycling a 37 gallon without fish, and it's only taking about three weeks with some mature media, which is why I am writing this post. (oops sorry lol)

So to answer your question, the mature media could be gravel, or the filter material in your fish tank. It pretty much is anything that has those bacterias already mentioned attached to them. I am using some of the Biomax ceramics from inside of my 10 gallon which I have added to the others in my 37 gallon filter. It helps speed up the cycling by supplying a small colony of bacteria which will grow a bit faster due to already being formed. I'm not sure what type of LFS you have, but one near me actually suggested that I take some of their media home to start a cycle with, but I was already too late.

It's good to see that you are already looking for information before just adding fish in, and that will greatly affect how well your fish do, and how happy you both are! Good luck and have a good day!

 

[arobinson1984]

Really you will need some mature filter sponge media from an established tank.

Gravel wont do much good the be honest as it hold less than 1% of the tanks good bacteria because over 99% of your beneficial bacteria is located on your filter media

Andy

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Andy, gravel from the substrate is pretty much worthless compared to media used inside the filter. It mostly comes down to ceramics or sponges or any other biomedia that's matured (run for a number of months at least) inside a filter already used in an existing tank.

Fishless cycling is almost boringly simple. Usually a test or two and a little squirt of ammonia and you're done for the day! The great mass of yakking you see us doing here is mostly because people are unendingly impatient and need lots of assurance that this boring thing is going to eventually do something!

~~waterdrop~~