Gravel Less Planted Tank & Without Co2 - Needed Help

[arulnathan]

Hi,

One of my Tank is Gravel less from last 8 months and I would like to know..how to control the benefecial bacteria for amonia break down in this Gravel less Tankas I have potted the plants in plastic containers.......pl. check pic..here

Pl. tell me how to control this system for Amonia break down as I use Hard Water (480 PPM), Also planning to put 20 pairs of various Rainbow fishes like Neon, Red, threadfin, scarlet, boswania rainbows in it.

My New Tank would be 48L x 21H x 18W

78.5 US Gallons


Thanks
Nathan

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

In order to have an effective system of Ammonia break down in your tank it needs to be "cycled". You can find massive amounts of information on this site as well as others about how the Nitrogen Cycle works and how to establish it in your tank.

The fact that it doesn't have any gravel does not make a big difference, but you do need to have a filter of some sort. Thats where most of the bacteria build up. Then you need a source of ammonia to start the cycle. Most people either use the chemical ammonia from a bottle, or use cheap fish to produce the ammonia from their poop. Many people do not use fish because as your tank cycles it produces chemicals in the water that can be very deadly to fish. So if you decide to use fish then be prepared to do small water changes every couple of days or so just to keep the fish alive.

Do a search on "cycling" and the "nitrogen cycle" and check out the pinned topics and FAQs. I hope this helps a little. Good luck!

 

[arulnathan]

Thank you Dazed for the reply...what I understand is that if I keep a filter I can run this system further.