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Fishless planted cycle

Aqua Gal

Aqua Gal

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3 weeks into a fishless planted cycle. Ammonia zero, nitrite 2.0ppm and not budged for nearly a week. Plants growing well, slowly but surely. Do I need to just sit this out and wait for the nitrite to budge or do I need to up the ammonia again? I haven't added ammonia as I don't want to use it. I haven't added anything except a few fish flakes last two days to see if this will spur it on. Am I completely buggering this up. Any advice would be appreciated, please
 
On a planted cycle there is no need to add ammonia, you are not cultivating the bacteria. You need enough plants to absorb the ammonia the fish make so all you reading should be 0. Are you doing weekly water changes?
 
Agree. Do a major water change to get rid of any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. If ammonia and nitrite read zero for consecutive days, you are OK to add fish if the plants show signs of growing (rather than wasting away!). Make sure you are using a comprehensive plant additive as there are very little nutrients in a new tank.
 
Yes, no need to add any ammonia to a fish less cycle, as you have no fish in the tank yet.

Anacharis works really good for a fish less cycle, as it grows fast.
 
Retired Viking said:
On a planted cycle there is no need to add ammonia, you are not cultivating the bacteria. You need enough plants to absorb the ammonia the fish make so all you reading should be 0. Are you doing weekly water changes?
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I did my first water change yesterday as I thought this would help lower the nitrite as this needs to be zero too. I will stop adding the fish food then. I am really new to this planted cycle as you can tell and getting confused with the process
 
Byron said:
Agree. Do a major water change to get rid of any ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. If ammonia and nitrite read zero for consecutive days, you are OK to add fish if the plants show signs of growing (rather than wasting away!). Make sure you are using a comprehensive plant additive as there are very little nutrients in a new tank.
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Will do a big water change tomorrow and keep checking the water levels. I have got plant additive also so I will keep on top of that too. Thanks
 
It is alright, most people use the ammonia/bacteria methods. That was what I did until I started to have live plants in my tank and read about planted/silent cycling. It is such a natural way to cycle your tank. I have now cycled 3 of my tanks this way.
 
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PheonixKingZ said:
Yes, no need to add any ammonia to a fish less cycle, as you have no fish in the tank yet.

Anacharis works really good for a fish less cycle, as it grows fast.
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Thanks for the advice. I have a limnophila sessiliflora which has doubled since I put it in
 
Retired Viking said:
It is alright, most people use the ammonia/bacteria methods. That was what I did until I started to have live plants in my tank and read about planted/silent cycling. It is such a naterual way to cycle your tank. I have now cycled 3 of my tanks this way.
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Wow 3 tanks, I can't even do one. I will get there though, thank you for your help
 
Could you post a picture of your tank? As far as planted additives make sure they are safe with fish. I use flourish at 1/2 dosage is my tanks. Once a week water changes of 50% is recommend. I added my fish in shoals of 5 fish each the 1st time I did it. I have a tetra tank so they are small fish. I would wait a week or more to see how the fish were doing before I added the next shoal. Depending on the size of fish you plan to add I would just add 1-2 large fish at a time or more with small fish.
 
I have fluval plant gro plus for the plants, I will check on that, thanks. I have attached a picture of tank, it's a bit naff as got reflection
 

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Aqua Gal said:
I have fluval plant gro plus for the plants, I will check on that, thanks. I have attached a picture of tank, it's a bit naff as got reflection
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This Fluval Plant Gro+ should be OK for now, but when it is used up I would recommend another product. There are three I know that are very good.

Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium
Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti
The Nutrient Company's TNC Lite [this is in the UK only]

These three contain the required nutrients in the proportion best for plants. Make sure you get exactly the name for whichever, as they all make several products under the generic names and some of those are risky if not dangerous.
 
Byron said:
This Fluval Plant Gro+ should be OK for now, but when it is used up I would recommend another product. There are three I know that are very good.

Seachem's Flourish Comprehensive Supplement for the Planted Aquarium
Brightwell Aquatics' FlorinMulti
The Nutrient Company's TNC Lite [this is in the UK only]

These three contain the required nutrients in the proportion best for plants. Make sure you get exactly the name for whichever, as they all make several products under the generic names and some of those are risky if not dangerous.
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That's good to know and thank you for the plant additive recommendations
 
I use the Seachem flourish comprehensive. I like your driftwood it has character, Is that moneywort you have planted? I would suggest some floating plants like frog bite, anacharis and hornwort. They are good at absorbing ammomia at a higher rate than most plants and will provide some shade for your fish. Many fish prefer shade over bright lights. Here is a picture of my 55 gallon tetra tank. I have anacharis floating in the tank. It is a sunken forest themed tank.
 

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Retired Viking said:
I use the Seachem flourish comprehensive. I like your driftwood it has character, Is that moneywort you have planted? I would suggest some floating plants like frog bite, anacharis and hornwort. They are good at absorbing ammomia at a higher rate than most plants and will provide some shade for your fish. Many fish prefer shade over bright lights. Here is a picture of my 55 gallon tetra tank. I have anacharis floating in the tank. It is a sunken forest themed tank.
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Byron suggested that plant additive too, so it's good to know. Your tank is lovely, I like tetra fish. I will look into the floating plants, good idea as the shade aspect will fit with their natural environment
 
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