Starting tank for bees

[Fiske]

As the subject line says; I'm going to start up my 45P with the aim of trying out some bee shrimp. Much contrary to my usual MO, this will be an all new setup and thus need to cycle for a while before adding shrimp. Plan is to run the tank with remineralized RO water. But for the start up/cycling phase I guess it will be OK to run with my hard tapwater, then do a 100% change before adding shrimp (using broad strokes here to get to the point ).
I'd rather not waste loads of expensive (monetary AND ecologically) RO water on waterchanges every other day.

Substrate will be Tropica Soil and I will probably seed a little from an existing filter.

 

[alto]

You can easily remove 10% from your established filter to “instant-cycle” this tank
I’m of the same opinion (as ADA) that a comprehensive biofilter with all its assorted microflora is a boon in establishing a planted tank with lesser algae occurrence

I agree re start tank with tap water, but would then gradually transition to RO water or RO/Shrimp Mineral, eg, just refill with RO etc after usual water changes ... bacteria also care about sudden changes (at least the ones I’ve cultured are very environmentally sensitive ... though it’s likely that aquarium microflora are a sturdier bunch )

For shrimp, try to find a local breeder that is using a mix of tap/RO rather than any of the expensive Shrimp Mineral mixes

 

[Matt @ ScapeEasy]

I believe you can take a quarter of your media out of your existing tank without too much risk... especially if it is planted