Cycling - Live Plants Going Brown And Furry

[TraceyB]

End of week 1 cycling

Live plants

Java fern.
Anubias
Bacopus
Other type of fern
Long bladed type grass
Moss (arrived today)
When planted used plant food tabs into roots

Sand substrate not to deep and have stirred it up occasionally

Can the nitrogen cycle and high levels that the process goes through damage the plants?


Tank looking a bit brown


Thanks

 

[KkAaNnEe]

Well the mix of ammonia and lights on will equal algae to be honest

 

[mattyeatsmatts]

My current tank which is cycling is planted about 40%

 

[Zikofski]

i have just put plants into my cycled tank and they are what we call melting where they die back as they adjust to your tank parameters they should regrow once they have acclimatised to the new environment some of my anubias have started growing well as a few have almost died completely i hope yours is just the same

i have cryprs, anubias and twisted vellas i also have no co2 bunt putting in some kind or fert and have a medium light setup

what is your setup?

 

[TraceyB]

i have just put plants into my cycled tank and they are what we call melting where they die back as they adjust to your tank parameters they should regrow once they have acclimatised to the new environment some of my anubias have started growing well as a few have almost died completely i hope yours is just the same

i have cryprs, anubias and twisted vellas i also have no co2 bunt putting in some kind or fert and have a medium light setup

what is your setup?

Its the lights that came with the tank

Power-glo 30w
Aqua-glo 30w

 

[Tizer]

fishless cycling with plants in and lights on fill blast its daft, simples.

should really be done empty, no substrate, no lights on, no other factors to cock it up.

 

[Gilli]

Cycling with plants will also slow down your cycling process.

 

[OldMan47]

Plants are not a thing that will slow a cycle Gilli. Rather plants can suppress evidence of your cycle. Plants think of ammonia, nitrite and even nitrate as food. I even feed my plants nitrate to keep them growing. That means that some of the chemical is being removed by the plants. On the other hand, a plant that dies contributes nitrogen to the cycle instead of removing it. It is why we ask people to tell us about plants when asking questions about a cycle. If we know what a plant is doing, we can evaluate what is going on with the cycle since we can eliminate the plant effects. A plant, as such, does not speed or slow a cycle, instead it confuses the signals we get from our chemical testing. Plants are also not impacted much by the cycle's status. You can grow robust plants in the middle of a fishless cycle that has you dosing to high ammonia levels. The plants simply look at things as if they are being given huge amounts of nitrogen and they respond accordingly. The plant response may confuse us, but it is all good for the plant.

 

[TraceyB]

Thanks 'oldman' (somehow that doesn't sound right me calling you that) ...... I did think that was the case........ I have taken them out and put them in my other tank and the fish are loving them .. ... I feel I did the right thing though as I am about day 11 in my fishless cycle and everything seems all over the place with its readings... and the tank is smelly and brown

Ammonia about 3ppm
Nitrites 5ppm
Nitrates 40-80ppm

API mater test kit


I read another site and It gave a chart and according to that I should have zero nitrates at this early stage (did use a small amount of bio media from my other tank ) but I didn't think that would have made a great dent in it as it is a smaller tank

75 L vs 200L

 

[Tizer]

tank size is not relevant and the chart, where ever you found it can only be a rough guide, since everyones tap water differs in bacteria levels. Any amount of bio media can be hugely beneficial because its hard to establish a colony to begin with, but once its there, it can grow at a very fast rate. So the little kick start you think plays no relevance, is probably doing you the world of good.

 

[TraceyB]

tank size is not relevant and the chart, where ever you found it can only be a rough guide, since everyones tap water differs in bacteria levels. Any amount of bio media can be hugely beneficial because its hard to establish a colony to begin with, but once its there, it can grow at a very fast rate. So the little kick start you think plays no relevance, is probably doing you the world of good.

Thanks for replying Tizer.... I am reading quite a bit about the cycling and since I started it I haven't had zero readings in any of the testing parameters I have done.. I was going to put additional established filter wool in to one of the filters of the cycling tank, the only thing is I had to treat the tank as one of my neons had an infection (think it must have bumped itself ) don't know if that's wise though

 

[Tizer]

it wont matter, meds wont stick to the sponges like bacteria do and you will be doing a 100% water change before you stock your tank anyway so if you can do it, go for it, i would.

(i wouldn't even be concerned about the infection moving myself)

 

[Gilli]

Thats interesting Oldman - all the blurb ive ever read says that live plants will slow the cycle down because they are using up the ammonia etc before the bacteria does.