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Which Substrate do you use for RCS?

It is suggested that we could cycle a tank by just planting it heavily and waiting for a week or two as Ollie has suggested. I'm sure Clive posted somewhere saying that adding ammonia is counter productive as ammonia kills bacteria rather than establishing them into a healthy colony. I think Clive used the example of cleaning agents and that their main ingredient was ammonia which suggests that it has a major role in eliminating bacteria. Please correct me if I'm wrong as I'm trying to recall what he had actually typed as I can't find the thread.

Nathaniel makes an excellent point on a slow introduction of livestock. Acclimation is key especially if your talking about shrimps. When I kept CRS I acclimated them for 5-7 hours definitely no less than 5 through the drip acclimation method which involved me using some air line tubing and starting a siphon, tying a knot so the water has a slow drip.
 
One company does a black volcanic glass substrate (inert) which works really well, i think its Unipac. As far as i know freshwatershrimp.co.uk (sponsor) sells it, if its not on the website then its worth giving him a call or email as i know he has a habit of not always putting stock on the website ;)
 
Ok I received my order for five bags of Dennerle Sulawesi Black today, this stuff is perfect the grains are tiny :)
I was suprised however how small the bags were when they arrived.
Apparantly 4 bags should be enough for a 60 litre tank although I don't really think this is enough hmm ..
Each bag is 2kg, I bought 5 bags thinking this would be enough for an ADA 60p tank but then I started reading on the back of the pack and they suggest to use Dennerle Sulawesi Black as a 3cm cap over 2cm's of Dennerle DeponitMix. Do I also need this DeponitMix? I read it's designed for plant growth but it's a hideous pinkish colour which would look a bit naff under the nice black grains or shall I just order a few bags more of Dennerle Sulawesi Black and make all of it 5cm?

EDavMU9.jpg
 
If you leave a 1cm gap around the sides you can have the black gravel fill it in and you won't see any pink ;)

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I used 2 bags of the Sulawesi Black in my 30x30x30 and it gave a good deep covering approx 2 inch at the front up to approx 4 inch at the back so 5 bags should be fine, the DeponitMix imo is rubbish if your want a plant substrate base id go for the tropica one ;)
 
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