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Adding livestock after dry start.

SRP3006

Member
Joined
18 Feb 2019
Messages
753
Location
GB
Hi all,

I flooded my tank on Sunday after a 12 week dry start. It's a high tech so I'm obviously going through setting up the co2 correctly and stabilising it whilst doing a ph profile.

However I am experiencing mould on the wood and die back/crypt melt and wondered when I could add critters.

Do the normal time frames count after a dry start with regards to 'cycling' and adding livestock or has a colony of bacteria grown in my substrate during the dry start?

Thanks.
 
Likely there is some bacterial colonization of the substrate but I’d not rely on it - if there was limited oxygen in the substrate there may be fewer of the desired organisms

You can always add fish food to test for appearance of nitrates

I’d trim the melting crypts and any that look to be heading in that direction - this usually encourages new growth, also prevents new growth from melting as it forms

You can ignore wood mould unless it gets crazy & begins to invade plants (rare) - once you add algae crew they will generally clear this as well
 
I've added a good squeeze from one of my filters into my fx6. That should ensure there is a decent colony for livestock in a few weeks.
 
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