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Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 7:50 pm
by Plorbond
Hey everyone

I plan on buying a 75 gallon tomorrow then getting some already seeded filter media from my LFS as well as some live plants to speed up the cycle. How long would it take for the tank to be officially cycled? Would it be instant or still take some time depending on how much media I get?

Thank you!

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:02 pm
by Pufferpunk
I would test it with 4ppm straight ammonia & see if it's gone within 24 hours.

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:19 pm
by Plorbond
Pufferpunk wrote: Thu Apr 01, 2021 9:02 pm I would test it with 4ppm straight ammonia & see if it's gone within 24 hours.
Awesome, thank you for the advice :)

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 8:53 am
by Pufferpunk
Let me know what happens after that 24.

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 3:35 pm
by Plorbond
So in another thread I read about someone just using SafeStart and being able to add the puffer right away. I only plan on having one GSP in this tank, maybe another down the road.

If I add live plants right away, will the bio load be small enough initially that SafeStart will make it fine to just add the puffer with everything else?

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:36 pm
by Pufferpunk
Safestart is great! I'd forget about plants though in a BW tank. They'll melt.

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 9:24 am
by Plorbond
Pufferpunk wrote: Fri Apr 02, 2021 7:36 pm Safestart is great! I'd forget about plants though in a BW tank. They'll melt.
Just an update, I added two bottles of Safe Start when I set up the tank, as well as 2 dozen ghost shrimp so that bacteria could feed off their poop (that’s the gist of a fish-in cycle, right?). This morning this ammonia levels tested at around 1 ppm. Is this normal when using safe start? should I buy more when I pick up the puffer today or just hold off until the level reaches zero?

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:31 am
by Pufferpunk
1ppm ammonia is extremely toxic. All from those shrimp? Are they all still living?

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:34 am
by Plorbond
Pufferpunk wrote: Sat Apr 03, 2021 10:31 am 1ppm ammonia is extremely toxic. All from those shrimp? Are they all still living?
Yes, they’re all still alive. I was surprised as well.

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sat Apr 03, 2021 12:44 pm
by Plorbond
Based on some research I've been doing I may be getting a false positive due to using Prime to treat the water. Is this a good assumption to make, considering all the shrimp are still alive?

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 12:52 pm
by Pufferpunk
Prime would not give you a false positive, more like a false negative, as it detoxifies--not remove ammonia.

Re: Cycling 75 Gallon with seeded media

Posted: Sun Apr 04, 2021 2:08 pm
by Plorbond
I’m using the API Test kit that tests for NH3/NH4 and I’ve read that it will detect ammonia and ammonium, which would explain why the shrimp are all still alive right? Sorry if I’m wrong about that.