Another Tank ? : O

 Woo hoo! BIG tank on the way this week  i got 240 l tank and stand and accessories lights/heater and huge outside filter  delivery and help setting up for £160 so i'm well pleased, and a bit scared  So my tank log will start again lol

Congrats to Aquamaid.

It's like we're all honorary Aunts and Uncles...

Large tanks are easier than small ones (apart from the larger water changes that is). The water parameters remain more stable as there is a larger volume of water to dilute any nasties. Smaller tanks can go wrong very quickly!

Well having the 90L just up and running, i am in no hurry with this one (yer right) and have a bit more knowledge the process and how it can go wrong and take ages. I'm hoping that a bit of filter material (don't want to upset cycled tank though) will help things along 

I've found that the dirty water squeezed out of  a used filter and soaked up by a new filter is very effective in "seeding" the new one with bacteria. It's true that there are no, or very few, bacteria floating loose in the water but they will be attached in plenty to all the little bits of muck in the filter. The first tank I had came with a well-established filter and I used that to start the second one and so on without ever chopping bits off, just the squish water. The tanks easily cycled within about 2 weeks.

I disagree. I think squeezings are better! The bacteria are distributed throughout the new filter media, whereas if you cut off a piece of used media, they will take more time to spread from the old media to the new. Each piece of gunge in the squeezings will have bacteria and soaking the new media in this will ensure that the whole of the new sponge is seeded quickly. It certainly worked well for me, filters definitely cycled within 2 weeks and probably less as I didn't bother with regular testing, just waited two weeks and found that the test dose of ammonia was invariably dealt with very quickly. It's also less disruptive to the old filter.

I think the idea that bacteria are only or mainly attached to the media is a myth, they will attach to anything including bits of muck. After all, there are no man-made sponges in nature .........

Maybe the best answer is to combine both - use some old media and soak the new media in squeezings. I probably clean my filter less often than many which means there is plenty of gunk, and hence bacteria, in the aqueezings.

I think that the whole business of fishless cycling has become too much seen as the be all and end all of preparing a tank. I believe that letting a tank mature in more ways than one is highly beneficial. I can't see why anyone would want to leave planting until later. Plants affect things in so many ways that I reckon anyone who doesn't have plenty is making life more difficult for themselves by risking instability in their system which they have to spend time and energy correcting by frequent water changes etc.. In any case, planting before adding water is so much easier, while planting through the full depth of water in a tank is a nightmare, stem plants just float away. Plants can establish themselves and be growing strongly by the time the cycle is finished.

We should remember that the ammonia cycling method is still pretty new and people kept fish very successfully for many decades before it was thought of. Unfortunately, much of the useful wisdom that people gained in those days appears to have been forgotten. Older books make very interesting reading.

I do have a large bit of excess filter sponge resting on top on my own that my sister gave me to try and kick start mine, i shall maybe cut a piece off and give it a squeeze, as you say i don't want to deplete my own  supply, but my own filter looks pretty mucky at one end so i might risk the spare bit. I would love more live plants, i need some tough ones like my jave fern that doesn't need lots of light and attention, i was wondering if i need any special plant substrate under my sand or gravel, ive seen some lovely red substrate called JBL Monardo, but it looks a bit coarse for bottom dwellers.

When setting up my latest tank I squeezed 1 sponge out into a little tank water and added that to the new tank along with some filter media out the filter. I also added 25 plants that I bought from Ebay (thanks for the link Richard  ) It seems to be rattling along a lot quicker than my first cycle.

Cryptocoryne are probably the only other plants that will do well in low light like Java ferns.

You put about an inch of gravel or sand on top of the soil, and so I hope you wouldn't disturb things that deep! If you do, you'll uproot your plants anyway. I never disturb the gravel, just suck stuff off the top.