Do You Need To Cycle Your Tank?

[OldMan47]

It certainly does give a different perspective Goat. Once you have the skills needed to virtually guarantee rapid growth of a densely planted tank, you can get away with not cycling it at all, as Dave Spencer would suggest. I would not suggest that approach to anyone new to aquariums or to water plants. Lack of either type of experience means you are likely to fail using that method. For old experienced plant people, it can indeed work to not cycle a tank at all.

 

[razer121]

although im not going to risk any of my fish, im going to try that theory out as i seem pretty good at growing plants now...."looks at 3ft empty tank"

 

[OldMan47]

If you have the plants and no fish, the simple addition of 1 or 2ppm of ammonia to your tank will tell you if you are ready to try it Razer. If you have any detectable ammonia 12 hours later, you are not growing the plants fast enough to support a reasonable fish stocking. If you can get away with smaller doses, you might be able to start out very slowly and gradually build up to a decent fish stocking.

 

[razer121]

well i can very easily grow these plants in just a few months to the point they start to take over the tank....its pretty mad!