Pools - fine tuning.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

I am sooo excited. I wanted ways in and out that weren't ramps. I will edit with links.

[Hermit-Yote]

And yeah, the good bacteria that needs to grow in a filter need a constant supply of food and oxygen, so those prepacked bags are a scam. There are some refrigerated cycling products that work, but they have to be fresh and have been transported properly.

I was fortunate enough that The Pet Shop local to me gave me a used Biofilter sponge from one of their tanks to start up the bacteria colony in my 10g Q tank. I wouldn't do that at just any store though, because you could pass diseases, I trust TPS because they quarantine everything before it hits the sales floor.

For my larger 55g freshwater I bought a plastic bottle with blue Bio Media Stars that contained both the stars and a goop with a bacteria colony in it. You just take the colony and dump it into the canister filter. It worked really well for me! I can't seem to find it anywhere online, but these are at least the stars.

[KellyCrabbieLove]

Awesome. Everyone is really helping me get this going.

[Hermit-Yote]

I found it! Here's what previously mentioned using to help cycle my 55g freshwater fishtank.