Will My Tank Start Cycling?

[Soho]

First I want to greet everybody and wish you a merry Christmas!
My wife and me bought a new 80l tank. Set it up with couple of plants 6 days ago.
We are using Sera Nitrivec bacteria every day since then.
Measuring water paramteres with TetraTest.
There are the same readings every day for NO2 and NO3.
NO3 is 25 and NO2 around 0.

Going to put a DIY CO2 kit this Wednesday to help plants grow.
Now I wonder, did we make a mistake putting those plants in, considering they probably leave no "food" for good bacteria?
Will this tank ever start ccyling or should we put some fish in it and start cycling with fish?

Thanks in advance!

 

[Torrean]

if you do not add an amonia source then no your tank will not cycle, Have you been adding ammonia as prescribed in the fishless cycle pinned topic?

BTW co2 is not the only important factor. I'm not trying insult your intelligence here just making sure you understand the basics.

DO you know what light requirements your plants have? If you just add co2 without enough light to support the growth it won't help much

 

[Soho]

if you do not add an amonia source then no your tank will not cycle, Have you been adding ammonia as prescribed in the fishless cycle pinned topic?

BTW co2 is not the only important factor. I'm not trying insult your intelligence here just making sure you understand the basics.

DO you know what light requirements your plants have? If you just add co2 without enough light to support the growth it won't help much

1. We didn't add amonia because the guy at local shop told us that SERA Nitrivec is enough. It contains live bacteria, or somethin like that.
2. We have 2x20W tubes. One is Aqua-Glo, the other Power-glo. Set on timer with two hrs pause during the day to ease algae growth.
Our plants are not so light demanding;
Echinodorus paniculatus
Vallisneria Torta
Bacopa monnieri
Cryptocoryne pontederiifolia
Egeria densa

3. Considering the CO2, I am going to establish DIY CO2 intake, because I think that it will be more than enough for our tank adn plants in it.

I was thinking to put some fish food in the tank to help amonia levels rise, but more I read on the forum, the more confused I get, because opinions are very different and divided.

If I decide to use fish food as an amonia source, is it good to start with it now or I am late?

And since NO3 readings are 25, could it show that something is actually happening in the tank. It is very strange that I have NO3 readings and no NO2 at all.

 

[Tolak]

The only product that contains any live bacteria to my knowledge is biospira, and it need to be kept refrigerated to maintain it's quality. Any nitrifying bacteria need a food source, ammonia, to live. Cycling with fish food works, but you have nowhere near the control over the ammonia level as you do with adding ammonia.

Test your tap water, some tap water contains nitite & nitrate.

 

[chilledtim]

Not hi-jacking here but since there is a cycling topic already started...

could i use the one of the pump/filters from my girlfriends tropical tank and put it im my brand spanking coldwater aquarium to speed up the bacteria multiplying, its an old pump that she stopped using afew weeks back but left unplugged in the corner of the tank so the sponges should still be full of bacteria?

 

[Tolak]

As long as the media has been kept wet, and has a little circulation to provide a food source it should hold some nitrifying bacteria. This would be similar to taking mature substrate and adding it to your tank. I would snag some media from an operating filter if you can, this will help more.

 

[chilledtim]

As long as the media has been kept wet, and has a little circulation to provide a food source it should hold some nitrifying bacteria. This would be similar to taking mature substrate and adding it to your tank. I would snag some media from an operating filter if you can, this will help more.

ace, cheers bud.

how about if i knicked afew of her plastic plants from her tank, whould that help abit?, its got good filteration, everythings always "moving" in the flow

 

[Tolak]

That will help, but think of surface area. Nitrifying bacteria live on the surface of objects. Gravel has more surface area than a plant, filter sponges more than gravel, and ceramic media more area than sponge.

 

[Soho]

I put some TetraPro fish flakes in the tank. Hopefully I will see some readings tommorrow

 

[InaneCathode]

Well, suffice to say that lfs employees arent always right...

It's a debate wether the product (or any 'bacteria supplement') you're using actually has live nitrifying bacteria. What isn't a debate, is that even if they contain live bacteria, without ammonia as sustinence for your bacteria, they will die.

Basically, without ammonia you can add as many bacteria as you want, they'll simply starve.