Dry Start Method vs Traditional Method

[mUAr_cHEe]

As the days tick nearer to my tank delivery, the more nervous I get and more doubts start coming into my head.

After reading a few success stories with DSM and how some even swear by it, I am almost convinced that will be how I want to start my tank.

I did a dry run in my head and then I realized a few complications. The soaked wood scape would dry out during the start period and a prolonged fish-less period after the flooding of the tank from the Dry Start. So it might be not be perfect after all.


I am considering to just run the tank flooded from the start and actually blast the CO2. Again this is another start method that has some success.

Can you share your start stories here? I would really appreciate both successful and failure stories.

[Ingen]

I have tried both methods with HC as my foreground plant in my tiny 2ft tank. I did the DSM because I wanted to have mini pelia and fissiden on my driftwood without having the need to tie or glue them, the plan was two weeks but on week two, I decided to add in HC and gave it another two weeks to ensure the mosses adhered to the wood before flooding. I did not experience any melting after flooding, my drop checker was light yellow during light period and the tank was cycled after two weeks (surprisingly). However, I killed most of my mini pelia after I did a h202 treatment to fight some algae (wasted my effort)... If your worries is the soaked wood scape, mine was totally dry when I started DSM and it was totally soaked by the time I'm ready to flood it. No issues of them floating up. Best part was no HC floating up haha.

The only problem I had during DSM was having too much water from my daily spraying, likely because I didn't manage to control the amount of water to spray as I was worried the mosses will dry up lol. I had to use a syringe to draw out water from substrate and because I used sands for the front portion of my tank, I had to dig a hole and drain the water slowly on a daily basis. Might be a good idea to leave some open space to drain water if you do not have good control on the amount of water to spray like me.

Honestly, both methods worked for me. DSM allows me to make changes to the scape like building the back higher, or removing some ADA powder to create a sandy path during the one month period easily as there's no water inside the tank. You will need lots more patience if you decide to go with DSM as compared to the normal way. If you take into consideration the fishless cycle period, it may both end up to be around 4-6 weeks.

[het]

I was in the same situation as you abt 2 mths back. In the end, when the tank and all the stuffz arrived (i remembered it was on eve of National day), I flooded the tank after all the necessary planting on the same day. That said, I went on with fishless cycling for 5wks. Mine was an 2 footer iwagumi setup with HC carpet. Everything went pretty well, though i have my fair share of my HC melting and floating etc. My HC carpet is now abt 1inch thick.

[mUAr_cHEe]

Ingen, Thank you for sharing. However, in your opinion, which method yields a better result of a nicer and more established carpet? Which method is faster?

[Ingen]

Ingen, Thank you for sharing. However, in your opinion, which method yields a better result of a nicer and more established carpet? Which method is faster?

I can't say for sure which yield a better result as my DSM is only 3 weeks into the flooding and I'm also using different substrate and lights as compared to my old scape. The HC and fissidens are definitely growing well less the mini pelia... DSM method saved me the effort of tying mosses, it can be time consuming to have mosses covered the whole driftwoods and also allowed me to make changes along the way with minimum hassle. What surprised me was the time needed to cycle the tank after flooding, perhaps it's the ADA soil and additives that were added or the cycle started the moment the soil is wet, I can't be sure. =

I will definitely go for DSM, if I ever rescape and work with mosses and woods again. I seriously hate tying mini pelia and fissiden on driftwoods using fishing lines. I did not see any significant difference between DSM and Traditional way for HC carpet thus far.

[Suzerolt]

There are ways to keep the wood scape wet. The cheapest way is to use a Tom's aqua
Lifter (available at Pet Mart) & hook it up to a timer (say 1m every hour). This keeps things wet. Then have a drain somewhere to take away the access water. Can use the same or separate aqua lifter if one is needed.


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[Urban Aquaria]

What surprised me was the time needed to cycle the tank after flooding, perhaps it's the ADA soil and additives that were added or the cycle started the moment the soil is wet, I can't be sure. =

Yeah, i also experienced this same phenomenon too. My DSM lasted for around 6 weeks before i flooded it... then the tank cycled quite fast after it was flooded, like within just a week after that already finish cycling.

From my research it seems when the soil is planted and water added during DSM, the beneficial bacteria will already start multiplying and doing its job inside the soil (substrate is one of the main places for bacteria to live in), so the cycle already start progressing from the start of DSM. Add in the fact that the plants also soak up a substantial amount of nutrients during the DSM, therefore after flooding there are also less nutrients released into the water column.

I've read outdoor gardening guides, and they also mention about beneficial bacteria (aka beneficial microbes) in the soil too, so DSM works on somewhat of a similar process.