wrote in message
oups.com...
George wrote:

A rule of thumb with any new system, be it a pond or an aquarium is to
wait
until the nitrogen cycle has run to completion before adding aquatic
life.
That usually takes about 30-40 days (although some suggest waiting

I guess that I was just lucky introducing fish so quicklym but
somethinh you said confuses me. **wait until the nitrogen cycle has run
to completion before adding aquatic life**. I thought the nitrogen
cycle was due to the interaction of plants, bacteria and fish, so how
is there going to be any cycle before ading aquatic life? Unless, ypu
are using runoff from farm fields, I wouldm't expect to find
significant nitrogen anyway.I did test the water before starting and
not surprisingly found no trace of amonia, nitrates or nitrates. What
am I missing?
======================
There must be aquatic life to get the cycle started. Some people use pure
ammonia instead of fish and other pond critters. I always used a few fish
and some "dirty" filter material ( begged, borrowed or stolen) to seed a new
pool or pond.
--
McKoi.... the frugal ponder...
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