Help with fish-less cycling new system?

[Matt O.]

I have a question regarding fishless cycling. I have just built a system consisting of fish tanks, swirl filter, fine particle filter, bio-filter and raft bed. Do i need to run air (oxygen) to my raft beds while the initial cycling is starting. i know i will have to have it with the bio media (K1) but wasn't for sure about rest of system before fish and plants are added. Thanks for your time!
Matt O.

[Conner Rothe]

Well after you have you system set up, and the water added and treated, you should go ahead and add the fish with maintaining DO levels around 4ppm. You can adjust your aeration to achieve the best results. The system should run for about 2 weeks, or maybe longer depending on the size. This is because you need the fish excrement to start the biofilter and start breaking down the ammonia to nitrate. You can monitor this process with a simple fresh-water test kit. The plants should ideally be added once their is available nutrients for growth. Once you have plants in the grow beds, you should have active aeration (if you have deep water culture set-up).

Let me know if that helps!

Thanks,

Conner