Fishless cycle

[GARRIGA]

Thought I knew Fishless cycling until I saw this. Followed it to some extent last build and worked out better than I had expected.

The tips on salinity and temperature helped the most as well as understanding how nitrites more likely to crash than ammonia. One change I did was to stress test the system by increasing the dosage and then used carbon dosing to solve my nitrates vs doing a WC.

 

[WhyMe?]

Theolox, couple questions on your cycle.
1. How long did you were your pods in your tank BEFORE adding fish?
2. What did you use to sustain your nitrifying bacteria to keep ammonia at or close to 0?
I want to do same thing as you by establishing pod population well before adding fish.
3. Did you feed pods phyto, or just use flake food with no fish?
Thank you.