Ok Controsoil

[Jadenlea]

I have been dreading putting it in the tank and having to do an almost 100 percent water change  2x because  the new fish room is on the second floor and there is no easy way to do that.  

 

 

Can I just use a big plastic tub  outside beside a hose, put the controsoil in the tub,  fill it,  dump the water out tomorrow and refill and do that for 2 days?   

 

Then just bring the tub of controsoil up and add it to the tank and fill with RO water?  

 

How many 100 percent water changes do you guys  usually do?    I notice it says NOTHING about doing that on the bag.  I Picked up the water changes from talking 

to people who use it  and reading old posts on forums. 

 

The bag makes it sound like you can add it and go.

 

[RyeGuy411]

Do not rinse controsoil.

[RyeGuy411]

Add water to the tank very slowly and it will be almost crystal clear.

[Jadenlea]

really?????   that would make my life a lot easier

[ChadO]

Yeah, in the 3 tanks of Brightwell that I have, I've never rinsed either and when added like RyeGuy suggests, no issues at all.

[Jadenlea]

And then cycle with tap and baking soda to keep PH Up?

[Jadenlea]

This feel so confusing. It feels like cycling in high ph will ruin the or shorten the time the buffering will work.. yet you cant cycle in low ph  ... am I missing something?

[Vshrimp]

And then cycle with tap and baking soda to keep PH Up?

Why would u want to increase ph by buffering up with baking soda and at the same time the substrate is going to buffer down? Sound like its contradicting the purpose of the soil.

[Jadenlea]

To cycle the tank.  I always thought you need higher ph to cycle

[JamesHe]

To cycle the tank.  I always thought you need higher ph to cycle

 

That's not true.

[JamesHe]

My way to setup new tank in zero day.

 

1. Pre-seed sponge filter in mature healthy tank for at least a month.

2. add Controsoil about 1" thick.

3. Add RO water

4. Adjust GH - my target is 3.

5. Move the pre-seeded sponge fitler over. connect air line

6. waiting couple hours, then add shrimp

 

Done.

 

This doesn't work for ADA Aquasoil.

[JamesHe]

Most of my tanks have pH around 5.5

if you can't cycle it in low pH, how can I pre-seed the sponge filter in such low pH environment?

 

It just takes longer time compare to higher pH. but It can be done.

[RyeGuy411]

I always add shrimpy daddy Gamma to raise pH while cycling I keep it 6.8-7.0 the short amount of time you are keeping the pH high will not noticeably shorten the life span of the substrate. Also once a tank is mature and humid substances naturally build up in the tank they help keep pH acidic just from using RO water with 0 kH.

[Jadenlea]

Most of my tanks have pH around 5.5

if you can't cycle it in low pH, how can I pre-seed the sponge filter in such low pH environment?

 

It just takes longer time compare to higher pH. but It can be done.

 

This goes against everything I know about tank cycling.     Maybe with seeded filters but I am not using seeded anything.   I am starting this tank completely from scratch.  

[JamesHe]

Let's take this discussion few steps deeper.

 

First, not all nitrifying bacteria are same.

Most nitrifying bacteria works great in normal aquarium environment which is on the alkaline side (pH >7.0) of pH range. only few nitrifying bacteria works in the range that we keep our bee shrimp at (pH5 - pH6).

 

So cycling shrimp tank at higher pH won't help as the nitrifying bacteria colony built up during cycling won't work effectively in acidic range, they will die off as pH keeping dropping.

 

Second. does certain strain of nitrifying bacteria work in low pH range? short answer is YES.

If you don't introduce any seed of nitrifying bacteria during cycling the tank. eventually it would select the correct strain of nitrifying bacteria over time (they are in the air) 

But I heard lots of stories that the tank is not cycled over couple months if you choose let it happen naturally. 

 

My P. Altum tank stays at pH4 right now. it's kind of low, but nitrifying bacteria is thrive in the canister filter, I need to clean it on schedule.

I seed this tank with Seachem Stability at beginning.

 

Third, If you have more than one tank up and running for a while. that means you have correct strain of nitrifying bacteria already.

So seed it in mature tank would cut the cycling time to none.

 

Forth. If you cycling a tank from scratch, and use the nitrifying bacteria designed for bee shrimp. you intend to increase the pH to higher range. It slows down your cycling process as that particular strain of nitrifying bacteria works better in acidic range.

 

conclusion

I found pre-seed the filter (sponge filter, canister filter, HOB, etc) in mature healthy tank is the better way for me.

I always have couple spare sponge filters in other tank, once I need it, I just move it to new tank, and have it up and running in no time.

[shrimpmania]

James you are 100 % correct ,that's the best way to cycle a taiwan bee tank ,good job

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SM-G920A using Tapatalk

[r45t4m4n]

To seed the sponge filters, do you connect them to air or just mount them in the mature tank?

[Soothing Shrimp]

To add the air pump is advantageous as it draws the bacteria into the sponge pores.

[JamesHe]

To seed the sponge filters, do you connect them to air or just mount them in the mature tank?

 

Yes, you need connect the air. and operate it as working one.