Cycling A Planted Tank

[AndyTaylor]

Ok, tank has been planted for 2 weeks now. Ive moved a lot of plants from my mature 70L over and yesterday moved a mature Fluval +2 in to speed up the cycling...
How long before it cycles? I'm in no particular rush, just curious about the speed of bacteria growth. Is there an accepted norm for this?

Nitrite : 1.6
Ammonia 0
Nitrate : 10/15 - hard to tell

170L/45Gal tank

Thanks, Andy

 

[pseud]

How heavily planted is your tank? If it's heavy then you don't need to cycle....

 

[AndyTaylor]

Pretty heavy, pseud, at the moment i've got about 50% of the substrate covered and my order from Java should land tomorrow so it'll be near 80% by the time i'm finished...have a look at the photos in my journal thread.
I thought that planted tanks didn't need to cycle, that's why i'm confused.
Those stats were from last night, i've just tested again:
Nitrite: .8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrate: 10

What i'm worried about is if I remove the Fluval in 2 days (coz it looks ugly!) is that enough time for a decent amount of bacteria to have colonised my external filter or will the tank crash?

 

[jimbooo]

hiya mate, the fact that you still have nitrIte in the water points to a lack of bacteria other wise it would be converted to NitrAte almost instantly. it normally takes about a month to populate a new filter. i'd wait a little longer if i were you. are you fishless cycling (ie adding ammonia) or are there fish in it?

 

[AndyTaylor]

That's a month from nothing though, eh? With the mature Fluval in it should be days not weeks? There are no fish in just yet (5 amano shrimp and a golden apple snail only), my 70L is sitting beside it waiting, the ottos are itching to have a go at the algae in the new tank!
I haven't been adding any ammonia, but the shrimp and snail should be producing some waste, there's snail poo all over the sand anyway! Should i add ammonia?

 

[jimbooo]

in theory the number of bacteria present will directly relate to the size of the food source (ammonia). bearing in mind snails and shrimp dont actually produce a lot of waste without adding more ammonia (in chemical or fish urine form) the new filter wont develop fully. what will happen if you put fish in now is a mini cycle, yes the plants will reduce the effect but not remove it totally. you need a nitrIte reading of 0 before you can remove the extra filter and add fish safely. this may take a few days, maybe a week or two it's the readings that will tell you when the time is right. (specifically nitrIte and ammonia being 0)

Edit: on top of that the mature filter (bursting with hungry bacteria) will not have anough ammonia in the new tank to keep all the bacteria alive so it's effectiveness is reduced also. Thinking logically, that filter is used to the water flow from a mature tank with a much higher waste content than your new one hence (thinking back to size of food = No of bacteria point) some of the existing bacteria will have died off.
sorry mate, gotta dash. hopefully someone else can pick this up if you have any more Q's. catch you later.

 

[AndyTaylor]

Thanks mate, that makes perfect sense. Expertly explained! What a forum this is! I think i'll get some ammonia and feed the tank for a couple of days.

 

[jimbooo]

Thanks mate, that makes perfect sense. Expertly explained! What a forum this is! I think i'll get some ammonia and feed the tank for a couple of days.

glad to help mate. the ammonia should do the trick. test the nitrIte in a few days and see whats happening.