Floating balls

[howmanyds]

Will my cycle cycle faster if I take my bio balls out of their canisters and let them float on the surface of the water since they work better with a bit of oxygen? Or would my purpose be defeated the moment I put them back into the canisters, killing off any additional bacteria that needed that constant supply of oxygen to survive?

Will the bacteria grow faster if I have a bubbler?

Thanks!

 

[93MSB]

I really dont know but i doubt you would see much difference in the time it took to cycle. The only way i know of to significantly reduce the time is to get some already seeded media from someone.

 

[howmanyds]

If I could find someone with seeded media, then that media would need to stay in my tank, right? It doesn't 'exchange' it's filtering powers to the new media, does it?

 

[Mcor]

Well eventually it would. Especially if you can stick it somewhere where it is in contact with your own filter media. The bacteria will multiply and spread onto your own bits.

 

[93MSB]

It doesnt take much media to get the cycle kick started. You can either leave it in or take it out once cycled.

for example:
It took my 30g tall about 8 weeks to cycle, fish in. When i setup my 55gal i did a fishless cycle. I took 8 pieces of seeded media from my 30gal HOB filter and spread them out among two baskets in my eheim 2076. The filter on my 30g still had plenty of bio media and my 55gal cycled in 2 weeks. After it cycled I then had 2 baskets of seeded media in my canister filter so i removed some and stuffed my HOB full of bio media again

 

[thursyanna]

Will my cycle cycle faster if I take my bio balls out of their canisters and let them float on the surface of the water since they work better with a bit of oxygen? Or would my purpose be defeated the moment I put them back into the canisters, killing off any additional bacteria that needed that constant supply of oxygen to survive?

Will the bacteria grow faster if I have a bubbler?

Thanks!

My answers are No and No. I agree with 93MSSB on getting some media from someone's filter. Sometimes your lfs will even give you some of theirs. All you need is a piece cut off their sponge. Just put that in the filter in one of the baskets. Good luck and be patient! It'll pay off.