[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]
Re: cycling planted tank
Chuck Gadd wrote:
>I'm getting ready to set up a new 75g tank. It's going to be
>heavily planted. Will I still see the normal ammonia and
>nitrite spikes during cycling? My thought is that the plants
>will consume the ammonia and nitrites, so the bacteria don't
>end up with any, and therefore, the bacteria colony won't grow
>as it would in a non-planted tank. Is this correct?
>Should I cycle the tank without a full plant-load? Or will it
>cycle just fine even with the plants. It seems that if it will
>cycle normally, the ammonia and nitrite levels will probably be
>kept much lower by the plants.
I recently set up a 40 g planted tank. I seeded the filter with a
sponge from an established tank. After 4 days, I added 4 cherry
barbs. At one week, I added 3 dwarf neon rainbows. At 3 weeks, 4
otos and 3 cories were added. And so on, until the tank was
stocked. At no time did any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate register on
tests.
I consider the tank cycled (it's 5 months later now) even though no
spikes occurred. It consistently test at 0 nitrates. I suspect there
is a low level of nitrifying bacteria present, which pick up any
nitrogen not used by the plants, and which could take over if there
were a sudden plant die-off. But mostly the plants are the biofilter,
rather than bacteria.
Cathy Hartland
Middletown, MD