Cycling Question

[aquanovice]

What are the best plants to get for a cycling tank?
I have heard that plants use up ammonia but i have also heard they can contain mature media.
Any suggestions?

 

[rabbut]

Plants do not contain mature media, but they do carry bacteria in on them. They will also utilise ammonia for photosynthesis if it is available, in preference to nitrite or nitrate. Any plant taken from a planted tank containing fish will carry bacteria, but as with media, the ammounts of bacteria carried on the plants will depend on the stocking of the tank conserned

All the best
Rabbut

 

[aquanovice]

Hmm thats what I ment I usually dont put what I mean I thought it would be OK to put a potted plant to carried bactieria on it.
Would it be best if I cycled my tank with or without plants?
Thanks

 

[rabbut]

I'd do it without, as they will have algea growing all over them, which is near impossible to remove Stick to mature media for your seed, as this will be more effective than plants anyway

HTH
Rabbut

 

[bogwood]

I agree with that ^^^

 

[waterdrop]

I agree with Rabbut that while plants should carry in a little bacteria with them, it is nothing like the use of mature media would be.

However, if you have no access to mature media and plan to cycle a bare tank, here are some thoughts:

Pros of plants during fishless cycling:
They might introduce enough bacteria for a small initial speedup as compared to nothing.
They make the fishless cycling tank look nicer.
The plants get a start ahead of the fish.

Cons of plants during fishless cycling:
Plants can absorb ammonia, possibly making ammonia levels harder to interpret.
Plants can absorb nitrates, turning them into ammonia for themselves, making nitrate levels harder to interpret.
Plants need light. Light plus fishless cycling conditions can promote algae.

There are probably other pros and cons. Preferences of TFF members seem to go both ways.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[stormy78]

My tank is planted and everyone is right, you WILL get Algea but the tank sure looks nicer with plants in and they are not to hard to clean down. I normally just wipe the leaves gently with a cloth I use for the tank only and then suck up the Algea with my gravel cleaner. To be honest the algea should die down once fish are added (fingers crossed). As for plants affecting your ammonia readings, clearly they will as waterdrop says but the drops in ammonia are so obvious eventually (just bear with it) that you know your going in the right direction. I have had plants in from the start of my cycle and I can see the ammonia is now dropping within 24 hours as opposed to 5 days at the start of the cycle.

 

[OldMan47]

Those are some good points stormy. The difference between gradual ammonia and nitrate use and a cycled tank's bacteria are obviopus in context. The only down side I see is if you were to post tank specs looking for help and failed to mention the presence of the plants. That could lead to some confusion and maybe poor advice. Best bet is always to mention anything that might even remotely be pertinent. With no other bacterial seed available, I would definitely add some plants so there would be something there to kick things off.

 

[waterdrop]

I tried to state the pros and cons in an unbiased way up above but in fact, in terms of opinion, I have come to feel that having plants during cycling is a good thing. All of oldman47's points about mentioning the plants in your cycling help threads are very well taken.

~~waterdrop~~