Zebra Danios Cycling 55 Gallon

[Nicolas]

I bought 7 Zebra Danios to cycle my 55 gallon planted aquarium. I want to try and make it through cycling with all my fish. I read somewhere online that you shouldn't feed the new fish for a while. What do you think. I also read that cycling will go smoother if you cut your plants of ferts so that they are "hungry" and they will process fish waste faster. Has anyone heard of this? Filtration is a Magnum 350 Pro. Temperature is 77 degrees. I would greatly appreciate any cycling tips!

 

[jennybugs]

Feeding should be little and infrequently while your tank cycles, a small pinch every 3 days or so

Personally I wouldn't put fish through the rigours of a cycle now I'm a wiser, more experienced keeper, but you'll have to bear in mind you will be testing your tank water every day and changing sufficient water to keep the ammonia and nitrite levels at zero. This may mean several smallish water changes a day or one after the other til you get readings of zero.

 

[pastabake]

Well you're going to have to make daily water changes in the region of +20% ... quite a lot of buckets for a 55g tank. Its definitely less hassle to do a fishless cycle on a tank your size.

If your tank is heavily planted, I hear that the plants will do much if not all of your filtering for you. I would still do the daily water changes though.

I'd also have the temp as high as the Danios can handle and aerate the water as both of these will aid in the formation of your bacterial colony.

 

[Nicolas]

My tank is heavily planted. I have 6 Amazon Swords. 1 Banana Plant. 1 Java Fern and 20 plantlets. 1 Red Cryptocoryne. 1 Huge clump of Cabomba. 1 gigantic Water Sprite which removes heavy amounts of nutrients. 3 Jungle Vallisneria. And 1 Spreading clump of Micro Sword.

I appreciate the help but this is my 3rd tank and I highly doubt I will be making 20% water changes every day.

What have you heard about plant cycling. I have lately been searching for articles about cycling planted aquariums and I am finding lots of evidence that cycling planted aquariums is easier. What do you think?