Stitch Posted October 14, 2015 Report Share Posted October 14, 2015 If I use hard tap water to cycle my soil would this decrease the buffering capability by a significant amount? Will be draining all water and using RO remineralized with salty shrimp gh+ after the cycle is complete. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Plenty of people do this since cycle in theory should only take you a month. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted October 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Plenty of people do this since cycle in theory should only take you a month. Yes I know that. My concern was about the buffering capability of the soil. Will using tap water deplete it faster or not? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Yes I know that. My concern was about the buffering capability of the soil. Will using tap water deplete it faster or not? Depends on KH of your tap water. If you have a pH probe, that would be great. Accurately measure your pH throughout the cycle. EricM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 yup hard to say because who knows what your tap water is like, but wouldnt be the first time i've heard of people using tap to cycle. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted October 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Sorry forgot about the parameters. My tap has high ph near the 8.0 range. Gh = 12 and kh = 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OMG Aquatics Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Your tap water will deplete your ADA very quickly. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted October 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Your tap water will deplete your ADA very quickly. Dang not what I was hoping for. No other choice but to cycle with remineralized RO I guess. Or maybe try out dry start since I heard that works as well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 I always cycle all of my shrimp tanks with RODI water. If you have RO or RODI water I would recommend using it in your scenario. Stitch 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stitch Posted October 15, 2015 Author Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 I always cycle all of my shrimp tanks with RODI water. If you have RO or RODI water I would recommend using it in your scenario. How long does the cycle usually take you? I'm asking since I saw that your shrimp tanks don't have a lot of plants to use up ammonia. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EricM Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 you dont have to mineralize for cycle. wait until things are stable then do 50% water change and add your remineralizer of choice. every tank is different to cycle time. no set schedule. just have to let it do its own thing. its a creature. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DETAquarium Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 How long does the cycle usually take you? I'm asking since I saw that your shrimp tanks don't have a lot of plants to use up ammonia. I usually cycle my shrimp tanks anywhere from 4-6 weeks. Ultimately it depends on the cycle. Shrimp tanks don't need alot of plants, because there is little waste. The key behind the cycling process is bacteria, the more bacteria available to breakdown the ammonia to nitrite, and nitrite to nitrate the quicker the cycle will finish. Many hobbyists don't like the wait and proceed using pre-seeded filters, me on the other hand usually just take my time and allow for the cycle to finish when it sees fit. Bostoneric is 100% correct, don't waste your remineralizer on cycling, just wait until your cycle is complete then remineralize. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greenteam Posted October 15, 2015 Report Share Posted October 15, 2015 Honestly it should be just fine. Just don't do a ton of water changes with tap water during cycle. Even after using my hard tap water to cycle for the first month my ADA soil went strong buffering for 1.5 years. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.