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Re: Fishless cycling



In a message dated 4/20/2000 00:51:17 Pacific Daylight Time, 
Aquatic-Plants-Owner at actwin_com writes:

> Can anyone give me a rough estimate on the fishless cycling  of a 20g if I
>  use water from an established aquarium, as well as "used" filter media and
>  some clumps of Java moss.  I really don't want to plant anything else in
>  this tank as I plan on putting Convict cichlids in it when it is ready.
>
Moving water from an established tank won't help because the bacteria don't 
live in the water column.  Moving used filter material, gravel, ornaments, 
etc., does help, since that's where the bacteria reside, on the slime coating 
on such objects.  Time of cycle depends on water temperature:  if you raise 
the temperature to 80-85*F, the cycle will occur faster than if you keep the 
tank at 74*F.  The method works very well, and endangers no fish.  Also, once 
cycled, the tank is ready for a full load of fish.  While several people 
CLAIM to have "invented" the fishless cycle method, here's the best article 
describing the method that I've found, and also the oldest:  
http://www.csupomona.edu/~jskoga/Aquariums/Ammonia.html