Yet another CYCLE question

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scalesojustice

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Jul 7, 2006
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This weekend, i will be setting up a 38 gal. and getting ready for the fishless cycle.

i'm going to have a PFS substrate and i'm wondering if i should let the water settle before i start the cycle (of course the sand will be rinsed first). if i should let it settle, should i leave my filter off (its a pengiun 350B)? will the PFS clog the filter?

does it matter either way? or am i being too skiddish?
 
Others may not have an issue but I would wait until the substrate has settled and the water temp is up to the level you want prior to starting your dosing of ammonia.
 
The sand will settle right away, it's the dust that will take a little while to settle. From what I've heard, PFS doesn't have a lot of dust in it anyways. It's used in pool filters ;) so people would probably be pretty angry if it clouded their pools with dust.

And the question about the filter, shouldn't be an issue. You're just removing dust with that, not actual grains of sand. It may help filter it out more quickly as well.
 
PFS doesn't have a lot of dust in it anyways.

I'll disagree.Its filthy ....at least the stuff I use has been.

The more you wash it,the quicker the tank will clear.
Its fine to leave the filter running.
 
Tsk tsk, partial quotes. Taking comments out of context. I put a disclaimer on the front of that sentence.
 
I did not mean to misrepresent what you were saying with a partial quote.I thought that quote captured the spirit of the post,which to me,seemed to be it may not be that dirty.I don't think at all that it is out of context after rereading the post,but I apologise if I am missing something.

The fact of the matter it is very dirty/dusty whatever...or at least it has been in my experience.If you fill a five gallon bucket half way with sand then fill it with water until the sand is a few inches under water then swish the sand around with your hand the water will take on a look of heavily creamed coffee.
With each subsequent wash it gets better but it takes quite a bit of washing for the water to get close to clear.
 
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