About To Start The Fishless Cycle

[anniekins]

At last my stand has arrived after several hiccups and a very long wait. I've now started setting the tank up. I do have a few queries which I would like some advice on, firstly I have washed the sand but the piece of bogwood that I have had soaking for three weeks is still staining the water. I was hoping to attatch some plants to it along with some in the substrate, let it settle for a few days and then start the fishless cycle, but now I'm not sure if the bogwood is safe to put into the tank whilst it is still staining the water? Secondly am I right in thinking the ammonia added in the fishless cyle is not harmful to plants during the process? Finally, do I leave the carbon cartridge in place throughout the cycle or will it hinder the process? Thanks for your advice in advance!

 

[OldMan47]

The bog wood may stain the water and lower the pH but it won't hurt the cycle if you keep the pH from dropping too much. The carbon will help remove some of the color from the bog wood's tannins so I suppose it would give a nice aesthetic effect that way. Carbon itself will not really affect the cycle's progress. Ammonia in the concentrations that we use will not hurt your plants. Plants treat ammonia as plant food so they will take some in slowly. Be sure to mention the plants if you ask for any advice and have chemistry test results, that way we can take the plant's effects into account.
You were talking about waiting for things to settle in the tank, but once it is up to temperature and the worst of the cloudiness are gone, you might as well start.

 

[anniekins]

The bog wood may stain the water and lower the pH but it won't hurt the cycle if you keep the pH from dropping too much. The carbon will help remove some of the color from the bog wood's tannins so I suppose it would give a nice aesthetic effect that way. Carbon itself will not really affect the cycle's progress. Ammonia in the concentrations that we use will not hurt your plants. Plants treat ammonia as plant food so they will take some in slowly. Be sure to mention the plants if you ask for any advice and have chemistry test results, that way we can take the plant's effects into account.
You were talking about waiting for things to settle in the tank, but once it is up to temperature and the worst of the cloudiness are gone, you might as well start.

Thanks for the advice, I am going to attatch the plants later today (Anubias) and place the wood into the tank, look forward to starting the cycle asap. It's been a long time coming! Will post the test results as I progress, I'm sure I'll have a few queries along the road as a complete newbie! The pinned threads on this section have been invaluable, so thanks to you all!

 

[waterdrop]

Good habit Annie! The more threads you read as a beginner, the more interesting things you find out!

~~waterdrop~~