Beginners Questions ?

[Rooster]

Been musing over a couple of questions I thought may help a beginner:

When setting up a new tank, at what stage do you add plants ? (and ferts ?)

Whats a quick and easy way to clean plants, to make sure you dont "inherit" any nasties ? (bacteria or snails ?)

 

[George Farmer]

You can add plants from the start. However if you are fishless cycling with ammonia then it's a good idea to wait until the cycle has completed. Excess ammonia is bad for plants, good for algae.

It is possible to fishless cycle a tank using plants alone and adding fish from the start. You need plenty (over 50% substrate covered) of fast growing plants though and plenty of light and CO2 to get high enough growth rates to enable the nitrogen compounds to be used up.

A diluted bleach dip can be used to clean plants prior to addition. http/www.aquariaplants.com/plantdipsbaths.htm