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Re: Fishless cycling
Michael is trying fishless cycling:
>I will be setting up a 30 gallon this weekend. For the first time I'm
>going to try the fishles cycling method. The substrate will be texas
>blast over laterite. I was going to add some sagittaria in the foreground
>and then add the rest of the plants after the tank has cycled. Since I
>will be adding more ammonia than is usually present when tanks are cycled
>naturally, is this bad for the plants?
<snip>
I've never had sag in the tank, but I think it'd be ok. I've used Crypt
wendtii and Wisteria and both survived. Did you buy the sag
potted? Potted plants seem to work best for providing a bacteria seed in
this situation IME. I suggest you also add some old, mature filter media
to speed up the process. I've found that a medium sized tank will cycle in
2 weeks or less using 10% NH3 so long as a fat starter colony of bacteria
is used. Be aware that the plants may compete for NH3 and prolong the
cycling process--that's been my experience, anyway. I guess it depends on
the number of plants used. I usually wait until after the nitrogen cycle
is established before I add plants these days, or I just use a mature
filter and don't cycle the tank at all.
Good luck!
Chuck Huffine
Knoxville, Tennessee USA
mailto:grendel at usit_net