G
Guest
Guest
Just wanted to clarify something here. If you are cycling, the fastest way to cycle is to not do ANY water changes during the cycle. Because doing water changes reduces the ammount of ammonia and nitrate available for the bacterial colony to establish itslef. (basically you are removing the food for the bacteria to grow)
The ONLY reason to do PWC during a cycle is if you have life inhabitants in the tank. This is to ensure the safety of the tank inhabitants. HOWEVER... this will make the cycle very slow and may take a very very long time to complete!!!
FOR EXAMPLE... in my 10 gallon tank i had a seeded filter and i stocked it right away. I then had a mini-cycle and i continued doing daily water changes and i kept having the same readings come uip again day after day after day. Finally i stopped doing water changes for a week and i tested the water daily and it FINALLY cycled... WHY??? Becuase i stopped removing the food source for the bacteria and it was able to grow a large enough bacterial colony to consume the wastes produced.
The ONLY reason to do PWC during a cycle is if you have life inhabitants in the tank. This is to ensure the safety of the tank inhabitants. HOWEVER... this will make the cycle very slow and may take a very very long time to complete!!!
FOR EXAMPLE... in my 10 gallon tank i had a seeded filter and i stocked it right away. I then had a mini-cycle and i continued doing daily water changes and i kept having the same readings come uip again day after day after day. Finally i stopped doing water changes for a week and i tested the water daily and it FINALLY cycled... WHY??? Becuase i stopped removing the food source for the bacteria and it was able to grow a large enough bacterial colony to consume the wastes produced.