Planted Tank Start Up

[fishdummy]

ok so i had my new tank set up with loads of live plants. was trying to cycle with food but it stunk and looked awful, so i got some ammonia and added some up to about 4 mg/l. that was 5 days ago and its still at the same level, is this normal? how long should it take until nitrites show up? pH is around 7 and temp is 26 C.

 

[waterdrop]

Waiting for the first tank dosing of ammonia to drop from 4-5ppm to zero ppm is part of the "first phase" (out of 3 phases) of fishless cycling. Like all other phases its highly unpredictable and variable, but, we see plenty of cases that take one week or two weeks. We see a smaller number of cases that take 3 weeks for the first drop and we seen a couple take even longer. Taking long for the first drop does not predict whether the overall fishless cycle will be faster or slower than most. (any type of cycle overall can take over 2 months)

~~waterdrop~~

 

[Assaye]

There isn't much point in cycling with plants. The plants will use some of the ammonia and with plants, you need to keep the lights on. Light + ammonia = algae.

Anyway, you've started now. Just be prepared to do some serious scrubbing.

The phase you are in now - waiting for some bacteria to realise there is an ammonia source - can be a long wait. Could take a couple of weeks, but usually shorter. Nitrites won't show up until then.