First Planted Tank

[fish_master]

Well this is my first attempt at a planted tank i got my 100ltr 3 foot tank for my b day with air pump, filter and heater i picked up some flourite yesterday and a 30W light i have mixed the flourite with the gravel.
it has all cleared up this morning. is it best to put fish in first or plants??? oh and im cloning my tank

 

[stang1]

It's probably best putting your plants in first as sometimes planting them causes the water to become a little murky, not only that it won't stress the fish out trying to plant around them.

 

[fish_master]

this is the tank

 

[fish_master]

This is the tank last night after i filled it very cloudy

 

[stang1]

Once its cleared it would be best to plant them and allow it to clear while the tank is cycling. The trouble is you'll never get plants to look right straight away and will probably be moving them about a bit. You,ve still got a week or two until your tank has cycled, so plenty of time to get it looking how you want it!

 

[fish_master]

And this is the tank this morning

i am going to clone my tank
so i suppose i have to put fish in fist for that dont i

 

[stang1]

Don't put any fish in until the tank has cycled. This usually takes 1-2 weeks.

 

[fish_master]

i know but im cloning my tank using my other filter so i have to put fish in to stop the bacteria from being killed from lack of ammonia

 

[stang1]

Have you tested all your stats? I've tried doing the same thing and I still had to wait a few days before I could add any fish.

 

[fish_master]

no i havent im gonna get em tested after i have cloned the tank

 

[stang1]

The trouble is if you end up putting fish in and it hasn't cycled probably it's going to kill your fish. When I did mine I ended up having a high nitrite spike after a couple of days. It would be worth getting your water checked before you do anything else.

 

[Gankutsuou]

what he's doing is perfectly sound.

In order to keep the bacteria alive, the same amount of ammonia/constant supply must be going in to keep the bacteria going. And what he's doing is fine, and the safest way to cycle next to fishless, and the quickest.

 

[fish_master]

Hopfully after school i will pick up a couple of dwarf gouramis to put into it and some plants

 

[Aprilia997]

I always cycle the tank with fish. After the fish are put in do small water changes every day and do not disturb the gravel. Flourite is rather light so make sure you use a gravel vac with a long lower tube so the gravel is not sucked up.

 

[fish_master]

I got my gouramis they are dwarfs. neon dwarfs i think they seem to be going well and i got some sort of plant that is yet to be identified