Heavily Planted Tank Question

[MrHarris]

I have a 29 gallon tank with flourite, 130 watts of 6700k light, and pressurized c02. The tank doesn't have water in it yet, just the flourite chilling on the bottom. This tank isn't going to have any fish in it.

My first question is, do I need to cycle it before I put the plants in (i'm buying all my plants in one shipment from aquaspotworld.com) or should I just order the plants and plant them.

My second question is, I've read before on heavily planted tanks that you put in some fast growing stem plants in the beginning just to suck up the nutrients so you won't have a massive algae attack, would I need to do this? I'm a bit confused with this method as I've never done it myself.

Any clarification and help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[Haag13]

Sounds like you already have all of the equipment necessary to have a nice planted tank. With that much light and pressurized CO2, be sure to have fertilizers ready though. Regarding your first question, there is no need to cycle your tank before adding your plants. You aren't going to have any fish so what's to cycle? Ammonia won't build up because there won't be any fish waste or rotting fish food in the tank and plants suck up ammonia really quickly anyway. Are you sure you won't be adding any fish though? They can be very beneficial in many ways. They'll add co2 and wastes the plants can use and they can be a big help with algae control. They also make the tank a lot more beautiful IMO because they add movement, coloration, and interaction inside the tank. I'm not too sure about an answer for your second question. Stem plants do tend to grow faster and start sucking up nutrients quicker, but if you are doing a heavily planted tank without fish, I don't know if you'll have as much to worry about in terms of excess nutrients. My tanks are lightly to moderately planted with fish in them so maybe someone with more experience with a similar set-up as yours can help you out more.