NotoriousENG
Member
Hey everyone,
I've been reading through cycling-related threads here and noticed that UKAPS seems to have a different view on cycling than the other large plant forum I haunt. Since its also been a long time since I cycled (or kept) a tank I was hoping to check a few things related to the cycle.
The thank in question is a 20 gallon long-running a 10-gallon sump with three 2" thick sheets of poret foam. I also recently some polyfill brand project fleece to help fight some cloudiness. The substrate is boiled and baked worm castings mixed with black diamond blasting sand and a little red clay capped with more blasting sand. The tank has been set up for five days now and I have been performing daily 40 ish % water changes (about as large as I can do without draining the sump). Between the chloramines in my tap water (treated with prime) and substrate leaching, I have been running consistently at between .5 and 1.0 ppm ammonia. I initially thought I saw some nitrites earlier in the week but now appears to have been a testing error or a fluke. I am planning to try skipping a water change to see if I can ease back to every other day and eventually weekly.
So my question is whether the ammonia level I am seeing is sufficient to "cycle" the tank? I'm also wondering if I am understanding the general sentiment here that all is needed is to just take care of the plants and wait?
One thing to note is that I am planning on keeping white clouds and neo shrimp in this tank. As such, the tank is unheated which from I understand will slow things down? Also, to ensure I have a good shrimp colony, I am planning to add the shrimp before the white clouds to give them a chance to populate (after the tank is ready of course!).
I've been reading through cycling-related threads here and noticed that UKAPS seems to have a different view on cycling than the other large plant forum I haunt. Since its also been a long time since I cycled (or kept) a tank I was hoping to check a few things related to the cycle.
The thank in question is a 20 gallon long-running a 10-gallon sump with three 2" thick sheets of poret foam. I also recently some polyfill brand project fleece to help fight some cloudiness. The substrate is boiled and baked worm castings mixed with black diamond blasting sand and a little red clay capped with more blasting sand. The tank has been set up for five days now and I have been performing daily 40 ish % water changes (about as large as I can do without draining the sump). Between the chloramines in my tap water (treated with prime) and substrate leaching, I have been running consistently at between .5 and 1.0 ppm ammonia. I initially thought I saw some nitrites earlier in the week but now appears to have been a testing error or a fluke. I am planning to try skipping a water change to see if I can ease back to every other day and eventually weekly.
So my question is whether the ammonia level I am seeing is sufficient to "cycle" the tank? I'm also wondering if I am understanding the general sentiment here that all is needed is to just take care of the plants and wait?
One thing to note is that I am planning on keeping white clouds and neo shrimp in this tank. As such, the tank is unheated which from I understand will slow things down? Also, to ensure I have a good shrimp colony, I am planning to add the shrimp before the white clouds to give them a chance to populate (after the tank is ready of course!).
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