cycle media in a pail of water?

**dnsfpl** · 7th Sep 2009, 14:21

bought 2kg of biohome media but my tank is not ready as i am doing the DSM for my planted shrimp tank

can i cycle them in a pail of water instead? will use pellets to create ammonia water

thanks

btw is 2kg of biohome too much for a 2x1x1 feet tank?

**bossteck** · 7th Sep 2009, 14:50

Media is just housing for the beneficial bacteria, you can fill all your media with bacteria during this time, but when you set up your tank and transfer the media over most of your bacteria will die off eventually due to starvation. This will lead to a period of instability, you will most likely still experience bacteria boom, and find yourself needing to do tank cycling again.

I may be wrong about the above, but I would just cycle at the actual tank.

**dnsfpl** · 7th Sep 2009, 16:00

in that case i will start my cycling after finish setting up the tank

thanks

**Cross** · 7th Sep 2009, 16:41

Originally Posted by dnsfpl

in that case i will start my cycling after finish setting up the tank

thanks

i started cycling my canister in a pail too. took up to 20 days(may vary) for nitrate cycle to complete. imo its faster to cycle your canister this way as you can raise the temp of the water as well as give it aeration to speed up growth of bb which cannot be done in a planted tank. Hope this helps

**dnsfpl** · 7th Sep 2009, 17:15

how did you provide ammonia? use market prawn?

thanks

**Wahlin** · 7th Sep 2009, 17:17

Originally Posted by dnsfpl

bought 2kg of biohome media but my tank is not ready as i am doing the DSM for my planted shrimp tank

can i cycle them in a pail of water instead? will use pellets to create ammonia water

thanks

btw is 2kg of biohome too much for a 2x1x1 feet tank?

Beneficial bacteria will be in the substrate after 2 months of DSM (Dry Start Method). So you tank can be considered well cycled after DSM.