No Cycle.... But I Want Plants First?

[DarkSoul]

Well right now my tank is being run through a bit with some fresh water (RO+DI - 0 PPM) to clean out whatever ended up in there the year its been sitting doing nothing.

Anyway, Im going to clean this water out in a few days, and maybe hopefully get the tank going as soon as i get a test kit.

What I want to do first however, is get some nice plants, and plant them before I get any fish.


If i buy plants what else should i get to ensure the plants stay alive until there are some fish in the tank?
What should i get to add to the water to make it support life? I will buy some RO right before I get some fish, but do i need a cycled tank to grow plants?

 

[Majjie]

No - you don't need a cycled tank. The plants will need some minerals in the water - and light - they will also bring in some bacteria with them and help to cycle the tank.

 

[FrankSlapperinni]

Perhaps someone who's more an expert on this can back up/reject this, but plants (like any other life form) require nitrogen in order to carry out their life processes, and in absence of fish there is not much naturally occurring nitrogen in the water (until the plants start to decompose from lack of nitrogen ). Plants do not suffer the same negative symptoms as fish when they are exposed to ammonia/ammonium, nitrite, and nitrate, and therefore it is feasible to "feed" them with either miniscule additions of an ammonia cleaner (only ammonia and water) or with fish flake, which will produce nitrogen compounds as bacteria decompose it. This process will also serve to cycle your tank before you stock it with any fish, eliminating a great source of stress for new fish.

 

[Majjie]

Perhaps someone who's more an expert on this can back up/reject this, but plants (like any other life form) require nitrogen in order to carry out their life processes .........

Yes - I was assuming that the nitrogen would be added as part of cycling the tank - should have said. I did fishless cycling on all my tanks - and the plants grew well - they like ammonia as a nitrogen source.

 

[Bignose]

It largely depends on how long between plants and fish. On a day to day basis, the plants really only need sunlight to stay alive. If there is no nitrogen immediately present, plants that look healthy (full, gree leaves, miniam brown spots, I bet you know what a healthy plant looks like...) have planty of reserves. So, if you are talking 1-15 days between when you are getting plants and then adding fish, the plants will be fine. Somewhere in there, and I don't know exactly where and I am sure it greatly depends on the species of plant, the plant will use up its reserves and then start to need nitrogen. But again, it will take some time. If you plan on planting and then getting fish just a few days/one to two weeks later, the plants will be fine.

Otherwise, you can add a few drops of ammonia just like if you were fishless cycling. Maj has the info right in that most aquatic plants prefer ammonia as their nitrogen source.

 

[DarkSoul]

The plants may be left up to a month maybe a bit more before fish are in the tank, I want to give them time to grow and establish a good root system before i start getting fish in there.

I am a bit of a botanist myself, But don't really know the sciences behind aquatic plants

As I mentioned this water is pure, and organisim free (it has also passed a UV sterilizer on its way to the RO filter) so would adding ammonia start these bacteria growing even though not a single thing, living dead or otherwise, exists in the tank?

is the mere presence of ammonia alone, enough to get these bacteria to colinize?


What I meant about what to add to the water, basically what specific brand name(s) or types of addtives do i need to add to the water.
I know the water needs some basic minerals, but i dont know what minerals, or where to get them.