"Seeding" an aquarium?

[JackBinimbul]

I'm very new to everything so forgive me if I have some ignorant notions. I'm sure there are also words for some of the concepts I'm thinking of, but I'm not yet up on the lingo. I apologize in advance!

My intended setup is a 20 gallon long tank, about half full of water, with a land portion up on stilts with live plants. I will also have water plants both on the surface and submerged. My current goal is a community tank comprised of male Endlers, cherry shrimp and a small shoal of dwarf corydoras.

My question is this; in order to have a healthy nitrite cycle and bacteria population, I know it's better to let the water sort itself out without fish in it for a period of time. I'm totally fine with this. However, I was wondering if I could do something to give it a better start. Specifically, is it a "thing" to ask someone for a bit of their sandy substrate and maybe a piece of filter sponge?

Would this have the desired effect? Is this something a LFS would be willing to entertain? Is it something that online communities such as this one tend to encourage between users?

 

[King Fisher]

You could do a fish in cycle. But if you don't want to you can get filter sponge from someone you know that has a cycled tank. Put the piece of filter sponge in a container with the person's tank water when you transport it. It will help cycle your tank. I wouldn't get any media from a chain LFS as they have problems with their tanks constantly. Maybe a local LFS who you trust.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Dang. Unfortunately I don't have any friends with aquariums. I also only know of three local places. Petco, Petsmart and a little fish place that makes me even more concerned about their animals than the previous two. Sometimes it sucks living in such a disconnected town.

Is this a trade sort of thing that people tend to do online? Or is that not feasible for the bacteria?

I'm wanting to slowly start building this fall and not add fish until next spring.
I'm willing to put in the time to let the aquarium sort itself out before introducing fish, but anything I can do to improve the conditions to start with would help me sleep better.

 

[King Fisher]

I feel you.....I only have two LFS here and one is Petco the other is a local guy that opened up a few years ago.

Maybe there's some guys here that can ship you some media but I would just do a fish in cycle personally. If you are waiting on fish then dose your tank with pure ammonia and get it started. You can buy it in stores.... specifically Ace Hardware. Really, you are going to have to wait a month or two to get it cycled so if you got the time I would do that.....plus you will get a working knowledge of cycling if you don't already.

 

[Fresh2o]

+1 on the ammonia and seeded filter media if you are not in a hurry to add fish. Seeded/seasoned media can be found online at: http://www.angelsplus.com/FiltersSpongeActive.htm You can use this as the primary filter for the tank or in conjunction with the filter that will eventually become the primary filter.
If the setup is heavily planted from the start and the plants are growing well, then the threat of ammonia and/or nitrite poisoning is decreased due to their uptake of these compounds.

 

[JackBinimbul]

Thank you both for the input! The seeded filter link is perfect. I think I'll grab that, plus some pure ammonia and add it in when I put in the plants.

Long term, I expect for my cycle to be fairly low maintenance. There will be a good amount of plants, a canister filter, a false bottom with LECA or charcoal and weekly 1/3 water changes.

Here's hoping that everything ends up healthy!

 

[DTWGulo]

I am a strong proponent of fishless cycling. I don't think it's nice to deliberately keep a fish in a toxic environment. Sort of us being in a room with 'just a little tear gas.'

Lots of ways to do fishless cycles, with good tutorials and calculators online in various spots. (just google 'em)

I don't see a lot of people using the bottled bacteria starters, but I have also had really good luck with those. It's expensive, but in my experience, it works well.

 

[King Fisher]

I used to use the 10 cent feeder guppies for cycling. I didn't really see the difference between that and throwing it in a tank to get attacked as food.

I have used the bottled bacteria years ago and I cycled a tank using it. I can't say for sure if it was the bottled bacteria or just the fish food I was adding to the tank for ammonia.