Here's my current situation:
55-gallon tank
2 filters (Whisper 60 and Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel)
Aragonite substrate (oh my, I LOVE this stuff - it immediately buffered my pH to 8.2!)
Decorated (plastic plants, of course)
18" Bubble Wall
Temp is at a steady 82F for the cycling process
It's been up and running for a day now. I took the filter media from my established freshwater tank.....not thinking about the consequences of running it through brackish water, therefore probably killing all of the bacteria that was established on there.
I have read articles pertaining to using pure ammonia. There, you are to drop ammonia into it until it reaches around 5ppm. There, you're to keep it at 5ppm, and once the nitrites kick in, reduce the ammonia to half that amount.
My question is....what do you do when you do it the "natural" way? I have fish food (brine shrimp and freeze dried krill) in a little pantyhose, hanging at the top of the tank. Is that sufficient? When the ammonia eventually reaches 5ppm, am I supposed to remove it? Or leave it in there? If I remove it, I'd be removing any source of ammonia, correct?
55-gallon tank
2 filters (Whisper 60 and Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel)
Aragonite substrate (oh my, I LOVE this stuff - it immediately buffered my pH to 8.2!)
Decorated (plastic plants, of course)
18" Bubble Wall
Temp is at a steady 82F for the cycling process
It's been up and running for a day now. I took the filter media from my established freshwater tank.....not thinking about the consequences of running it through brackish water, therefore probably killing all of the bacteria that was established on there.
I have read articles pertaining to using pure ammonia. There, you are to drop ammonia into it until it reaches around 5ppm. There, you're to keep it at 5ppm, and once the nitrites kick in, reduce the ammonia to half that amount.
My question is....what do you do when you do it the "natural" way? I have fish food (brine shrimp and freeze dried krill) in a little pantyhose, hanging at the top of the tank. Is that sufficient? When the ammonia eventually reaches 5ppm, am I supposed to remove it? Or leave it in there? If I remove it, I'd be removing any source of ammonia, correct?