Re: Fish less cycling -- or - Waiting for the STOP sign to turn green

["S. Hieber" <shieber at yahoo_com>]

Thomas Barr said, in part:

> I added mulm from another tank and had my tank cycle in
> 0.0 weeks. How is
> fishless cycling going to beat that? That works on non
> planted tanks also.
> No hassle, no testing needed, no wait, no problem.
> 
> I still don't understand why folks seem possessed to do
> fishless cycling.

I can't tell you how many times, while in a lfs, I hear one
of the clerks explain to a customer about cycling, and
weeks of waiting before stocking the tank, etc.  At the
better lfs, they even offer to swap biowheels (new ones
sold to the customers for ones they have been running in
the shop) to speed up the cycling.

I think most people get the notion that they need cycling
from the closest thing they have to an authority on
aquaria, the lfs.  I guess the step from believing in the
need for cycling to doping the tank with chems is a natural
step.  And the further step (logically speaking) of
infecting the tank with cultures is one that firms like
Hagen, and others, have been trying to cash in on for
years.  Sort of like standing on the beach and selling
sand, if you ask me.

BTW, Tom, do you think you could trim the waiting time down
if you perfected the "add-mulm" technique?  Did you factor
in the mulm acquisition, mulm-containment, and mulm release
times?  While 0.0 weeks sounds good; it's probably
something like an entire minute involved. ;-)

Scott H.

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