Not entirely sure if im doing a fishless or silent cycle

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Tiber

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This is my new tank. I had planned to do a fishless cycle, but think I might accidentally be doing a silent cycle?

To be clear I don't have any fish in the tank. I added plants a couple of days ago then filled it up. Left it a few days for the water to heat up and plants to settle without doing anything else.

All that has been added to the water is some Tropica fertiliser a few days ago, then stress coat to remove the chlorine (I admit I forgot to add this previously, not that it matters without fish) and some API Quick Start today.

I have a test kit and all the results are exactly what you'd expect at this stage.

Suppose my question is, at this point should I just switch completely to a silent cycle?
 
See how quickly the plants grow - if they are obviously growing in a couple of weeks, then yes a silent cycle is an option for you. Bacteria will also grow slowly in the background over time but not as many as there would be in a plantless tank. When you come to buy fish, add them a batch at a time not all at once and test every day to make sure there's no ammonia or nitrite.

One thing which would help a silent cycle and be good for the future fish - floating plants. They can take up a lot of ammonia as they are close to the lights and can get CO2 from the air.
 
I do not think you have enough plant mass for a typical silent cycle. Letting the plants settle in is a good idea. Do not fertilize much until you see growth. Most plants these days are nursery grown and should have stored nutrients. You want growth and rooting to happen before adding the fish.

At that point you have three options. One would be to try to get the bacteria that likely came in on the plants to increase some so you can add more fish to start. Doing this also encourages the plants to grow. This involves doing a mini-fishless cycle using less ammonia.

The second is to play it very safe and to stretch out the time it takes to reach "full" stocking. This means you also start with a very smaller fish load. This takes a bit of careful planning, especially for the initial few additions.

The third is to add more plant mass. That is a tall tank and then plants are pretty short at this time.

Finally, to get any idea of how much ammonia a planted tank can handle means you have to add some ammonia and sew how much is gone in 24 hours. In your tank I would limit the dose to 1 ppm. If the tanks handles it in 24 hours and you see very little or no nitrite, you can stock faster. Maybe in three loads or even two, it all depends upon what your ultimate stocking plan is.

If it takes longer than 24 hours to zero out ammonia and nitrite, you are still on the slower plan unless you want to continue with a mini cycle and or add more plants. Remember, your plants will be doing most (but not all) of the ammonia processing. Some will still be done by the bacteria. The plants can do it faster and without making nitrite.

Also, is there a reason why you did not fill the tank all the way?

I am not a fan of Stress Coat. But I have well water and rarely have need for dechlor. Apir Quick Start is not a choice I would make either. I would choose Dr. Tim's One and Only or tetra Safe Start+.
 

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