How long does it take to seed bio material?
- Thread starter NOLAGT
- Start date
Do you know anyone else with a more established tank than your brother in law? If so you could put some scrubbies in their filter...
If not consider putting your scrubbies in a tub of any sort with some kind of powerhead or filter on the tub... then start your fishless cycle... I've never heard of someone doing a fishless cycle on media then transferring it to a tank... but I don't see why it wouldn't work as a "jump start" concept...
If not consider putting your scrubbies in a tub of any sort with some kind of powerhead or filter on the tub... then start your fishless cycle... I've never heard of someone doing a fishless cycle on media then transferring it to a tank... but I don't see why it wouldn't work as a "jump start" concept...
I have a 300gal outdoor pond I could run the water through the scrubbies but I didnt want to pre-clog the scrubbies lol. The pond (all tho well filtered) has a lot of little junk in it.
So in theroy....I could get say a rubber made tub...put my scrubbies loose in there....fill with water so they kinda loose and floating in there....large powerhead to make them move around....and amon to start a fishless cycle? Might not house as many BB as it will once its a true wet-dry setup but it could grow something on all the scubbies? Now this seems like a cool test......
So in theroy....I could get say a rubber made tub...put my scrubbies loose in there....fill with water so they kinda loose and floating in there....large powerhead to make them move around....and amon to start a fishless cycle? Might not house as many BB as it will once its a true wet-dry setup but it could grow something on all the scubbies? Now this seems like a cool test......
I would put a few scrubbies in with the pond’s bio-filtration… if the pond doesn’t have bio media I would put them in the gunkiest part of the filter… if there’s no filter put it near the intake of the pump… if there’s no pump, then put a pump on it 
… then when you set up the sump, you’ll have seeded scrubbies to put wherever you want… or at the very least to squeeze over the new scrubbies you put in the sump…
As for the other idea… I’m no pro at fishless cycling but I get the idea and understand bio-filtration well… I would think any size container with a pump of sorts pushing water through a sponge… would serve as a fishless cycle container to seed the sponge…
Bacteria will build up on surfaces other than the sponge, so this method is not as effective as cycling the full aquarium/filter system… but I don’t see any reason why bacteria wouldn’t build up in the sponge and then be transferred to your aquarium/filter with those bacteria…
If I were to attempt this concept I’d do it with a powerhead in a half full 5 gal bucket. Naturally you’ll have to use ammonia dosages for a 2.5 gal tank… or whatever volume of water you’re using. Using the powerhead to literally push water through the sponge will be best. I would put the sponges on the intake of the powerhead…
But all that being said… I’d still put them in the pond…
… then when you set up the sump, you’ll have seeded scrubbies to put wherever you want… or at the very least to squeeze over the new scrubbies you put in the sump…As for the other idea… I’m no pro at fishless cycling but I get the idea and understand bio-filtration well… I would think any size container with a pump of sorts pushing water through a sponge… would serve as a fishless cycle container to seed the sponge…
Bacteria will build up on surfaces other than the sponge, so this method is not as effective as cycling the full aquarium/filter system… but I don’t see any reason why bacteria wouldn’t build up in the sponge and then be transferred to your aquarium/filter with those bacteria…
If I were to attempt this concept I’d do it with a powerhead in a half full 5 gal bucket. Naturally you’ll have to use ammonia dosages for a 2.5 gal tank… or whatever volume of water you’re using. Using the powerhead to literally push water through the sponge will be best. I would put the sponges on the intake of the powerhead…
But all that being said… I’d still put them in the pond…
I was thinking of just having them tumbaling in the container with powerhead. It would be better to have the water going through the scrubbies but even some BB on the 350 scrubbies would be enough to jump start the tank I think. I might just try it out that way to see what Happens. So would I have to "feed" the bb with amon untill I had actual fish in the tank. Like once it's cycled in the tub how long will bb last. I guess I would put some more Amon every few days untill it was up running with fish.
I'll start right now if you can convince my wife and 2yo daughter LOL. They got plans for me this weekend
I'll start right now if you can convince my wife and 2yo daughter LOL. They got plans for me this weekend
Study up on Fishless Cycling...google it, read all you can on the subject and you'll get a feel for what it takes...NOLAGT;2245625; said:
there is a specific amount of ammonia added to the tank at the start, when you first see a nitrIte spike and when the Ammonia and NitrIte hit Zero etc...If you follow the regiment to the TEE, you won't have to keep starting over...it IS the fastest way to properly cycle your tank...
As far as your ladies, gotta always keep them happy first...
zennzzo;2245655; said:Study up on Fishless Cycling...google it, read all you can on the subject and you'll get a feel for what it takes...
there is a specific amount of ammonia added to the tank at the start, when you first see a nitrIte spike and when the Ammonia and NitrIte hit Zero etc...If you follow the regiment to the TEE, you won't have to keep starting over...it IS the fastest way to properly cycle your tank...
As far as your ladies, gotta always keep them happy first...
I'll do some reading tonight...after the ladies are happy and sleeping lol.
