order of steps to start up a new planted tank?

[qumqats]

I'm going to be starting up a new planted aquarium soon and the following question has occured to me.

Which is best?

1.) Put all the aquascaping in at the start and then cycle the tank slowing adding fish?
2.) Cycle the tank by slowing adding fish and then after the tank is cycled add all the aquascaping?
3.) Start with a tank empty of both fish and plants. Cycle the tank and add BOTH fish and plants slowly.

advTHAaNKSnce

 

[guppy]

Step #1, buy tank, heheh.
I like aquascaping and planting, then slowly cycle by adding fish a couple at a time until desired stocking level is reached.

 

[paltik]

i already have a tank, 75-gallon with no gravel and i keep some knifefish and pacu. how do i convert it into a planted tank?

 

[GettingSassy]

Plants can actually be used to cycle a tank, but I wouldn't with what you have in there already. Is it already cycled for those fish?

You could just add substrate, without pulling anything from the tank, so long as you rinse it well and are careful. Then add the plants. Don't forget to fertilize, and make sure you have enough light to support what you want to grow.

 

[qumqats]

3.) Start with a tank empty of both fish and plants. Cycle the tank and add BOTH fish and plants slowly.

In light of the lack of responses advocating any specific method I guess I'll have to decide on one.

#3 seems the best to me. I'll slowly add both plants and fish during the inital cycle. Gives me more time to contemplate stocking and aquascaping.

 

[HarleyK]

In light of the lack of responses advocating any specific method I guess I'll have to decide on one.

#3 seems the best to me. I'll slowly add both plants and fish during the inital cycle. Gives me more time to contemplate stocking and aquascaping.

Howdy,

I don't see a lack of responses. Guppy gave you good advice, and I agree with him. A tank should be planted and cycled, plants actually help during the cycling process. Then add fish, a couple at a time.

Of course, you can always add more plants later, if you want to.

HarleyK

 

[FishHeadSoup]

Howdy,

I don't see a lack of responses. Guppy gave you good advice, and I agree with him. A tank should be planted and cycled, plants actually help during the cycling process. Then add fish, a couple at a time.

Of course, you can always add more plants later, if you want to.

HarleyK

Agreed! #3

 

[GraFFix]

I have never cycled a planted tank, there is no need to. Set the tank up, pack it with fast growing plants add fish give it a little while for the filter to catch up and then you can start aquascaping with the plants you wish. I like using hornwart for getting a tank started. Its cheap, it grows quick and pulls alot of nutriants from the water. Just make sure you test the water, everyones setup is different.
My last tank i setup was completly new....filter, substrate etc. I setup the tank added a school of rummynose tetras, bristlenose, siamese algae eaters, and some neon rainbows and about 25 stems of hornwart plus a few other quick growing stems from my other tank I never saw a reading for nitrate, nitrite or ammonia. Plants work wonders for pulling out the bad stuff.

 

[guppy]

Cycling with a planted tank by slowly adding fish is an ongoing and almost unnoticed process, if (out of curiosity) you do twice daily testing during the stocking you should see the following pattern. Starting with a planted, settled tank and seeded filter the water should read 0 amm., 0 nitrites, and whatever your tap gives you for nitrates. You add a few small or a couple medium or one larger fish and wait a day, test and only the ammonia should go up (slightly), the next day ammonia should be back down but nitrites should be up a tiny bit, the next day ammonia and nitrites should be 0 but the nitrates should not yet show a measurable change. This pattern is then repeated as you continue to add fish until you have reached your target stocking level. During the stocking process the nitrates slowly rise but if you harvest excess plant growth before any plants die and breakdown, and keep up on a 30-35% weekly water change schedule you will keep bringing it back to the starting level. What you are doing is stretching out the cycle process into a series of mini-peaks that do not stress the fish or plants.
People speak of cycling a tank when the more correct usage would be "initial cycling", even after everything is established your tank continues to go through the nitrogen cycle as long as it supports life.

 

[Aquaman3000]

Starting from scratch, many "experts" recommend jam packing the tank with plants initially, then adding a crew of hardy algae eaters so the plants can take hold quickly and outcompete so you don't get algae blooms. Common practice then is to replace the cleanup crew with other fish as is your preference. The nitrification cycle isn't quite as critical when you have a complete tank full of plants helping with water quality. Common initial algae eating fish include mollies, True Siamese Algae Eaters, Amano shrimp, etc. I have read that if setting up with mollies, you do not feed them period during the setup phase, although I have not used mollies to date for this. I think I will try on my next setup.