Fishless Cycling And Live Plants?

[Marisa_allen]

Hi,

I have started my fishless cycling on my 28 g but after reading quite a few different cycling methods I am a more confused than when i started.

Some say not to add plants to the tank but I have already and it is heavily planted . The other thing is I have added enough Ammonia to give a 5ppm reading but again, there seems to be very different opinions on the advised ppm.

I added enough drops to give this reading last night and havent added anymore.

Some say keep adding ammonia, some say now just leave.

I would appreciate some advice to set be back on the right lines.

Thanks

marisa

 

[Squid]

Hi,

I have started my fishless cycling on my 28 g but after reading quite a few different cycling methods I am a more confused than when i started.

Some say not to add plants to the tank but I have already and it is heavily planted . The other thing is I have added enough Ammonia to give a 5ppm reading but again, there seems to be very different opinions on the advised ppm.

It is confusing at first.. part of the confusion is that there is a couple of methods. Once is add daily, and the other is add and wait. I did add and wait. This Thread is really useful for describing the two main methods.

with the add and wait method, i ended up topping up the ammonia to 2-3 ppm every 12 hours once the ammonia levels had shot down the first time, then it was a waiting game for the nitrites to follow..

With regards to plants, i did my cycle with valis spirals, java fern and anubias. The fern and anubias was fine, but the valis got a beating.. although this might be to do with the lighting, and how often i had it on. People have cycled successfully with plants, and many say it helps the cycling process. So i would just say, keep an eye on it.

Good Luck
Squid

 

[BigIan]

I`m currently on day 7 of my cycle...

I added plants to my tank (as theese are supposedly a good sourse of bacteria) and they are thriving.

The method i`m using is...

I added 6 ppm on day one and the level has only just started to drop when it reaches 1ppm or less i will add enough amonia to bring it back up to 3-4ppm and do this every time the amonia drops back to 1ppm
I then sit back and await the nitrite spike, to come and die away (all the time adding more amonia as need be)
Once thats happened its time for a huge watter change (70-80%) and my tank will then be cycled...


The important thing to remember is

Amonia **is eaten by**-> amonia eating bacteria **who produce** -> Nitrites **that is then eaten by** ->another strain of bacteria to produce -> nitrAtes that you then get rid of via water changes

hope this helps

 

[Marisa_allen]

Thanks for your help, I was starting to worry that 5ppm was too much, but seeing as i have added that already i think i will go down the add and wait route and then when it drops to 1ppm I will start adding a little ammonia to keep the cycle going.

We will have to see how the plants get on (could be £30 down the drain!)

Marisa

 

[BigIan]

30 quid on plants

I`ll be spending at most a tenner on mine, you must be having a heavily planted tyank