Heavily Planted Enough For Not Cycling?

[Christoff]

So, I've added the substrate, added some bogwood, and added some plants... They've only been in a couple of days. I was hoping to follow the "why we don't need to cycle planted tanks' school of thought but I've got a couple of questions:

1) Is my tank classed as "heavily planted"? Perhaps I should stick a load more stem plants on the left?

2) How long do you need to wait before you add fish and should you add them gradually or all in one go? I'm looking at stocking 6 corys, 8-10 blue neon rainbows, a plec, and a couple of golden panchax.

Here's a photo of my tank. It's 180 litre, 2 x 45w T5 lighting, on a 7hr photoperiod, with aquabasis plus base and play sand. I'm not dosing ferts or co2 at the moment, but may eventually decide to get a pressurised system if I can afford if. Any thoughts gratefully received.

 

[Verminator89]

First off the Ceraptopteris on the left hand side could be spread out a little more, this plant grows outwards pretty darn well and as you have it the lower leaves might be starved of light somewhat. The plants in the right hand corner in my opinion will just grow into a tangle, there doesnt appear to be much shape to it. Later on this will either look unsightly and a mess and/or become a dead spot for circulation unless you already have great circulation.

Also is that a bundle of HC i see in the lower front right corner? If so plant it individually. I know its painstakingly slow and can ache your back trying to plant individual stems but the reward afterwards is tenfold compared to planting it how you have. You'll find more dies of quicker when planted as you have, also the spread of coverage when it grows well being planted singularly is alot better.

As far as how heavily planted your tank is i would say its on the moderately planted side. Aside from your Cabomba and Ceratopteris you havnt got a lot of density elsewhere. Your lacking height in your hardscape which is reducing your limits to what can be planted to add mass such as Java Fern, Anubias or moss. Given time it will fill out, but i'd say it could be planted alot more to be classed as heavy planting right from the off.

As for stocking never stock all in one go. Alsways add fish gradually a week or so apart in bunches of no more than 7 i would suggest.

Your running 90W of T5 over a 3ft tank (i assume) which without dosing some form of additional ferts you may encounter some algae issues later on.

EDIT: I know theres alot of debate about not cycling a tank if its heavily planted enough, but i personally wouldnt want to, part of the fun of a tank is watching it empty for a month i think as plants fill in. Especially if you want corys that may well dig up your newly planted plants

 

[ian]

1. No your isn't planted heavy enough. It needs to be covered with '75% of mainly fast growing stems'. You also need to be running C02.

2. As above.

 

[Christoff]

Verminator, do you mean the water wisteria on the back left that I've got too bunched up, don't think I've got any Ceraptopteris? I've spaced it out a bit now and moved the cabomba across a bit too. I will set aside an evening to sort out the HC, couldn't face doing it today !

I've got a couple of Anubias today and put them on the wood. The plants on the right are vals (straight and twisted) with Aponogeton Crispus in front of them and then a few Crypts dotted in front of those. I'm hoping when they grow out it'll look a bit more ordered.

I was trying to leave a deliberate sand path across the tank just right of centre as the tank's main feature, but I might fill that up in the first instance now and then can always rescape it in the future.

As regards running CO2, I was under the impression that you didn't need to, at least that's what people seem to be saying in the comments below the why we shouldn't article?

Thanks for your comments both, I'll get some more plants in there and wait a bit. Do I need to be adding ammonia in the mean time to help the cycling or will the bits and pieces that fall off the plants be enough? Slightly concerned that if I add ammonia now then it'll be algae heaven!

 

[ian]

you're looking at 'stem' plants eg Hygrophilia poly, as for the C02 thing, it's mainly done this way as the plants will utilise the ammonia, ect more efficiently. You still have to keep up with water changes as the build up from organic waste can be high. Ferts macro and micro also should be dosed, you say you're not dosing...you need to to enale the plant to do its job. I would re read what Dave Spencer explains the best way to do a silent cycle.

 

[Christoff]

you're looking at 'stem' plants eg Hygrophilia poly, as for the C02 thing, it's mainly done this way as the plants will utilise the ammonia, ect more efficiently. You still have to keep up with water changes as the build up from organic waste can be high. Ferts macro and micro also should be dosed, you say you're not dosing...you need to to enale the plant to do its job. I would re read what Dave Spencer explains the best way to do a silent cycle.

Sorry, should have added that I've started with Flourish Excel today in lieu of running CO2 (I know it's not perfect but hopefully will help). I will have to look into what ferts I need to put into the water. I think the best way is def to use CO2, but that's not an option at the moment as simply can't afford it! I was just a bit confused as both lljdma06 and aaronorth's comments on that string indicate that you can do a silent cycle with no CO2 (so long as you plant heavily). Will have a look into building my own pressurised system and see how much that is!

Cheers.