Speeding Up Cycle

[wyatt45]

I am just getting ready to set up my new 58 gallon tank. I have heard about ppl switching filter media to speed up the nitrogen cycle. Problem is I dont know anyone here in the Sacramento, California area with a mature tank. Recommendations? Was wondering if LFS ever tend to help out in this. Thoughts?

 

[waterdrop]

Its a hard go to get a LFS to donate any mature media as they will usually just go crazy telling you that "bacteria in a bottle" will work or that you don't need to be doing any of it anyway. Its extremely rare for any of them to admit that fishless cycling might be needed, its just so very far from what they think is a sustainable business model, they can't swallow it.

But that's no reason not to try being polite and trying! You might just luck into that rare LFS!

You are quite correct that mature media is really the only reliable way to speed things up, otherwise mother nature is pretty much guaranteed to deal out a 3 week to 2 month session of growing bacteria and you can bet the real time it takes will be pretty random! Might be fast, might be slow and there might not be much to look at to figure out why!

But the thing I found that was unexpected was that all that time was quite useful to me as a beginner: It takes a long time to get a handle on all the issues around a stocking plan, they are more complicated often than one thinks. It also surprised me how much help it was to get some practice at tank maintainance.. water changes, algae and gravel cleanings during the second phase of fishless. Not having fish in there made it a lot easier for me to get the hang of it.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Paavn]

You can try using something like bio-spira or safestart. I have used it and it worked for me. Others say it doesn't work so its going to be a hit or a miss. I went to a couple of stores and they said they give me any becuase they do not want to make my tank infected if their media is infected. So its up to individual stores. If you're fine with this you can always ask.

 

[waterdrop]

Yes, it is correct that biospira(USA) and bactinettes(sp?)(UK) are two bacterial starters that have enjoyed slightly higher reported success rates (like 10% success instead of zero? (not trying to be sarcastic)) when one watches reports here on TFF over a long time. Both are refridgerated products and it has been felt that if you happen to get them when the particular packet is not too old and if it was lucky enough never to get thawed during transport and storage then that might explain it.

Hovanec was rumored to have a new product in the development stages and at one point there were reports of a product name, but I've forgotten what it was.

~~waterdrop~~