[Bombalurina]

For 11 days, I'd definitely bring him home. Your plan sounds good. However, to make sure you maintain the cycle, I would leave a bit of dirty water in the bottom of the tank and put the filter media in that so that the good bacteria don't dry out and die off.

 

[Bombalurina]

That's unreliable at best, Pog. I certainly wouldn't rely on it to maintain a cycle. Keeping filter media submerged in the dirty water is a much surer methiod. You can use the bacteria-in-a-bottle as well, if you want, but I wouldn't rely on it alone.

 

[Bombalurina]

Because without a filter, ammonia in the tank is not converted into nitrate. That's what the good bacteria does. It does grow on the rest of the tank but not to nearly the same extent that it does in the filter, which is why a tank without a filter won't cycle.

You can acheive the same effect with massive amounts of live plants in a Natural Planted Tank (see OldFishLady's tanks) but it's a different process.