Starting a tank with used media mistake to learn from

[KittenFishMom]

My guppy population's member are growing, even though I think I have the frys under control to a good extent with a male bettas. I decided to split up the guppies into 2 additional tanks.  I had saved the media and snails from the last tank I broke down in a buck with an air stone. I was feeding the snails algae pellets and pinches of fish food, but I was careful not to over feed. (This is key, I wasn't thinking "ghost feeding") I though it would be useful in I needed to start a new tank.

I started 2 tanks to try to separate the male and female guppies.  I pulled a sponge filter from an active tank, which cycled just fine. I put the used media from the snail bucket in the other tank.  I could not get the water parms to drop, even with a lot of plants. Then I realized that I had not been truly ghost feeding the media that was in with the snails. I got a sponge filter out of an active tank and it was cycled the next day.

I am sure there was good bacteria in the media in the bucket. In my attempt to keep from fouling the water, I had let it die back to what was needed for the snails. Don't make this mistake, learn from my mistake. active media is wonderful. Just make sure you keep it active.

The bucket of snails in reproducing nicely and will go to the person who took my goldfish as a stead supply of live food, and window washers.  

[Flumpweesel]

Always good to share a learning curve. You probably had a perfectly cycled bucket there with all its nooks and crannies filled with the beneficial bacterial.

At least you caught it up as long as there is some bacteria about it generally gets itself sorted eventually.

[Patrick_G]

Great advice! I'm a fan of using cycled media, and this is something I'll be keeping in mind in the future.