Fishless cycling using media from my betta's tank?

[DreaminginBlue]

I have a lovely little betta named Calvin, and he lives happily in a five gallon tank in the kitchen. His tank does not have a heater or filter, so I do water changes often, and warmth isn't a problem because the house is warm and his water stays around the right temperature.

However, I want to fishless cycle my new 26 gallon freshwater tank, which is all set up. It says to get seeding material from an established tank, and I was wondering if I could borrow Calvin's turtle decoration or plastic plant for this purpose? Or would this be a bad idea?

~DreaminginBlue

 

[HooKooDooKu]

I don't see it as a bad idea, but I'm not sure how much help it is going to be. I don't know how much nitrifying bacteria is going to grow on a submerged decoration.

The ideal material would be filter material from an established tank's filter; that's where the majority of nitrifying bacteria is going to live in a cycled tank.