FREE Looking for Established Media near Mobile, AL or even MS coast.

I live in West Mobile and work in Ocean Springs, MS so I cover a lot of ground daily. I am hoping someone in the forums can help me out, since I am hesitant to ask my LFS(s), even though B&B is great and may be willing to help.

I have a 20 gallon tank that I will be starting to cycle in a few days and am using a AquaClear 30 filter. I am just waiting on my water conditioner and test kit (internet ordered) before I start to fill the tank.

I do work looooong hours for no good reason, but I am off Friday - Sunday. I may also be able to pick up on a work day if in Mississippi.

Feel free to post or PM if you can help kick start this tank of mine. Otherwise, I will be starting off slowly or begging for who knows what from B&B.

Do the sponges have to mailed wet, like in a ziplock? I don't know how long bacteria would survive if it were dry - Not very long is my guess. That may be too much trouble, but I could reimburse sponge and shipping cost.

Oh, I will definately consider Bio-Spira. Thanks for the offer. Though, I will exhaust my free/cheap and local options first, which are slim and none atm. Slim hasn't left town yet.

Probably will be fine now. Picked up some Tetra Safe Start, which is aparently the rebranded Bio-Spira, which I guess Tetra bought the rights. Of course, my LFS was not willing to give me media when they can sell this, haha. At least it was in a fridge, but no telling how it arrived at the store. Guess, I should give them the benefit of the doubt, since they are a very good fish store.

Huge thanks Ford for bumping my thread along! Your a really great guy.

This tank is a small start (20 gallon) into hopefully something bigger (~100+). Just freshwater, I am probably looking to get five cardinals tetra and a pair of pearl gourami to start, once the tank cycles of course. Still at ~4 ppm ammonia, 0 nitrite, 0 nitrate (day 2).

If things go well, this first tank will be a quarintine.

I have lots of nice fake plants (hahaha), huge piece of malyasian bog wood that I think I have soaked for a week and boiled about 12 times now (uhhhhh), stone made lean-to. I will probably post pics in the newbie freshwater once I get fish and can put the bog wood in the tank.