Meat In Cycling?

[mattbond]

ive heard about people leaving a small chunk of meat in the tank to help it cycle, as it releases ammonia when it rots?

is this an effective way of cycling a tank?

 

[dthoffsett]

I wouldn't consider it effective, though you can certainly cycle a tank this way. The problem is regulating how much ammonia is released, liquid ammonia is far easier.

 

[Geoff1991]

I think, with certain meats such as prawn, you run the risk of infecting the tank with septicaemia (dont quote me on that though)

 

[mattbond]

would something like a small chunk of steak do?

 

[Geoff1991]

To be honest, it will just make a mess and unless you can guarantee that it will produce 4-5ppm of ammonia, you wont be cycled properly anyway. Way easier to just use liquid ammonia.

 

[Bignose]

Most "meat" isn't going to decompose into a very large amount of ammonia. It isn't that hard to find pure ammonia in most places. Not necessarily easy, but usually not that hard.

Can also ask around for a donation of a someone's filter floss, too.