[JanS]

Hey Barbels, nice to see you over here.

This is a pretty nice place (if you haven't noticed already :wink: ) and you can get help with just about any of your plant or equipment questions in a hurry.

You should ask here about the regulator, tubing and reactor.

 

[JanS]

Sue, (I had no idea that was your real name...)

If you already have an established tank running, and since you're going to be planting this tank, you could certainly skip the fishless cycling and just seed your bacteria from established material and add a few fish at a time.

Keep us posted on how it goes.

 

[JanS]

I usually steal the stuff that's been in an established tank for some time. A bag of substrate, porous rocks, driftwood, plants, etc. Any of those things are going to have a generous amount of bacteria built up on them and if you add the fish gradually to your new tank, it will cycle nicely on it's own. I usually tend to stick with the same kinds of filters too, so when you add your first new fish, you can swap out the older filter media into your new filter.

Sometimes the fishless thing can get pushed a bit too far when you already have established stuff to work with. :wink:

 

[JanS]

LOL! Isn't it fun?

I would put your seeding stuff in the tank at the same time you add the first few fish, not before. The established bacteria needs the fish waste to keep going, so if you put it in before adding the fish, it might start dying.

With your seeding material you shouldn't get any amonnia or nitrite spikes as long as you don't add too many fish at first. I'd still keep an eye on it though.

LOL about the Cocoa Puffs.... That's exactly what I thought they looked like. They're not fun to chase down if you spill them on the floor though... :roll: