Aqua Soil Cycling

[Oonallee]

Hi there,

I was planning on converting to an aqua soil/gravel substrate and have read that you need to 'cycle' the setup for a month before adding fish, however I only have one tank (stupidly sold my smaller one). Hence I can't remove the fish for a very long period from the tank whilst changing substrate. My question is, how can I cycle the aqua soil for the recommended month given my situation?

Or Should I just go the sand/gravel option and put some root tabs in as an alternative? Thanks in advance

[ILLUSN]

you could put the aquasoil in a bucket with an airstone and heater, sit some media or a sponge from your established tank on top of the aquasoin (you wont need much a couple of chunks of media will be plenty) to get the cycle going fater.

[Oonallee]

Hi ILLUSN that's not a bad idea. If I did that (with just a heater and air stone for one month, do you think that would be sufficient? I thought I'd have to have a filter as well.

[ILLUSN]

Not really bacteria will grow the aquasoil and consume the excess ammonia kinda like an under gravel filter

[Oonallee]

Just got some great advice regarding this post and sharing the link in case anyone is searching for info on this topic in the future.

http://www.fishlore.com/NitrogenCycle.htm