Driftwood & fishless cycle & a bucket.

[mathchris]

Should I avoid putting driftwood in my new tank before doing a fishless cycle?
I wonder if it would retain too much ammonia after the massive water change at the end.Though it would be nice though to do all my aquascaping before I get the fish in there.

Also, I have a Python syphon & should I not use it to fill my tank after the big water change at the end of the cycle? Should I declorinate the water first in a bucket? I'm thinking the chlorine in the tap water might kill the colony raised during the cycle?

 

[Xielos]

Not sure about the amonia in the drift wood, but ALWAYS dechlroinate the water BEFORE you put in the tank when doing a water change. It will kill the bacteria.

 

[mykidsmylife]

I fishlessly cycled my 75 gallon with a huge piece of driftwood in it and have 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 7.6 ph, and 10 nitrates. It sure didn't seem to hold any of the ammonia. I did soak the driftwood in the tub for almost a week before adding it to the tank. I had to weight it down with heavy rocks to keep it from floating up (thank goodness we have two bathrooms! LOL) IME, I don't think it will hold much ammonia I think the bacteria would convert any left over in it after/during the cycle. Perhaps soaking it good for a while helped with that? I just did it to keep it from floating up on me so much in my tank.
As for the python and your declor, I have no experience with the declor. I LOVE my python, but I have well water. I hope someone can help.

 

[KingDiscus]

I just started cycling a 20g-L with a small piece of driftwood that was boiled...i guess it didnt help, cause its getting cloudy. so that could be a problem....

 

[iamgroovy]

I just started cycling a 20g-L with a small piece of driftwood that was boiled...i guess it didnt help, cause its getting cloudy. so that could be a problem....

The cloudiness might be a bacteria bloom, which is a normal part of the cycle. I'm not positive, but I don't think your driftwood will be detrimental to your cycle. If anything, it'll give your bacteria something else to grow on and I don't believe you need to worry about it holding ammonia.

As for the dechlor and your python, others who use them (I don't have one) just add the dechlor as they're filling the tank with the python. I guess the whole point in having a python is to not have to haul buckets

 

[happychem]

You have the filter turned off during the draining/refilling anyway, so the bacteria on the filter media are isolated from the new water while it's filling anyways.

The nitifying bacteria will colonize every surface of the tank, from filter media, to rocks, substrate, fish, and even driftwood. The fact that driftwood is porous just means that the bacteria will colonize inside - as far as they can fit - about 0.2 microns.

At the end of a fishless cycle, you've built up nitrifying colonies, but there are still numerous other strains that need to develop - namely the heterotrophs which break down feces, uneaten food, old scales, ect. Until these develop your tank will be cloudy with the bacterial bloom. Once the tank has stabilized and the dominant heterotrophs are settled the water will clear. To avoid this, introduce mulm from a healthy established tank. I've tried putting the mulm under the substrate and just pouring it into the tank. In the former the water was cloudy for about a day after the fish were added - I think because the substrate was too fine for much water/bacterial movement. In the latter there was some haze while the mulm settled but crystal clear water afterwards. I think that if the substrate has grains larger than a couple millimetres there there shouldn't be a problem either way.

 

[mooman]

ALWAYS dechlroinate the water BEFORE you put in the tank when doing a water change. It will kill the bacteria.

I disagree. Many people add dechlor as they are adding water during a water change. I also don't think a minute or two of 30% chlorinated water circulating through your tank would have that much effect on our bacterial colonies. I've even read in books that bacteria can survive short exposure to straight tap water. This makes sense to me, because when I was taking a microbio course we did a lab where we made bacterial cultures from things that were exposed to different disinfecting agents for different periods of time (bleach, uv light, iodine...) The one common result with all the tests was that the shortest ( I think it was 10sec) exposure time had no impact on the bacteria present when compared to the control. I think full strength bleach might have had some effect, but still did not wipe out all the bacteria. Granted, these tests were done with totally different species of bacteria than what we have in our tanks, but I don't think the results would be that different. I've said it before, and will say it again. Our bacteria are tougher than we give them credit for.