Ammonia

[guppyman1]

Currently I am doing a fishless cycle on my non-planted aquarium. When I am done I will be adding guppies and inorder to save the guppy fry I am thinking of adding java moss since many people recommend it. My question is wont the java moss make the tank un-cycled as it will feed on the ammonia causing the bacteria that conver ammonia to die off? Besides that is there any other negative effect that java moss can have.

Another thing I want to ask is: Is it possible to grow java moss in a bottle/bucket keeping in mind your still providing more than enough light for it.

 

[Assaye]

Yes, the plants will take in some of the ammonia. In heavily planted tanks the filter is usually more for water circulation and back-up ammonia removal. However, with just some java moss it's highly likely that the bacteria will still get a lot of the ammonia.

Either way, no ammonia is good ammonia. Just don't suddenly take away all/most of the plants without keeping a very close eye on water quality.

 

[OldMan47]

The java moss in a cycled tank will do no harm at all. It may absorb some small amounts of nitrogen from the water but the vigorous growth needed to actually control ammonia and nitrites is not often possible with just java moss. I have a very heavily planted tank that grows like crazy and I still get a bit of nitrogen that processes through even though the plants, by merely growing in that tank, are removing lots of nitrogen. This is the tank I am talking about. It is literally impossible to get that much plant matter growing in a tank when all you have is java moss.