New Planted Aquarium

[Hawks1980]

Hi,
I have recently purchased my first aquarium, an Arcadia Arc 60 litre and I would like to create a planted tank. I have decided to use JBL Aquabase Plus with JBL Mandano on top as for my first tank it worked out much cheaper than the ADA stuff. I am due to start cycling my tank on Monday when my ammonia arrives but I wanted to know how long, if at all, I need to wait before adding plants or if I can add them from the start?

Thanks
Tom.

 

[CezzaXV]

I would wait until your cycle is done before adding plants. Plants need light, and light plus ammonia equals algae!

 

[KittyKat]

Hi Tom, add plants only after cycle is over… you might be interested in http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?cat=3&paged=8 (start reading bottom up) and final post in the series is at http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?p=848 (which contains a link to all the interesting stuff for beginners).

 

[brian1]

Hi Tom, add plants only after cycle is over… you might be interested in http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?cat=3&paged=8 (start reading bottom up) and final post in the series is at http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?p=848 (which contains a link to all the interesting stuff for beginners).

lots of interesting stuff in your blogs.........thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Oh, and this one will probably be one of the most interesting: http/blog.natureaquarium.co.uk/?page_id=278 It is a list of species that are perfect for that size aquarium, you just need to decide if they're compatible

 

[Hawks1980]

Thanks for the advice everyone. Really excellent blog, and really handy it's about the same tank I have. I have spent the afternoon setting the tank up. The guy at my LFS gave me some used filter media (little round plastic things....K something he said) so that should hopefully shortcut the fishless cycle a bit. My ammonia arrives Monday so for now I've put a small amount of fish food in to keep the bacteria allive.

Tom.

 

[KittyKat]

The guy at my LFS gave me some used filter media (little round plastic things....K something he said) so that should hopefully shortcut the fishless cycle a bit. My ammonia arrives Monday so for now I've put a small amount of fish food in to keep the bacteria allive.

That sounds great! Some type of bio-media? In case you haven't gotten that far yet, I took out the carbon and stuffed that bit full of bio-media, I recommend that you do the same as more surface area is good, and the carbon would otherwise need replacing every few days to every few weeks!

 

[Hawks1980]

Just to add....With regards to stocking, would leopard danios be suitable for my tank?

Yeah I removed the carbon and it's in the drawer now. I'll search for the media he gave me and post it up.

Edit...the media is evolution K1

 

[minnnt]

Danio's are a very active fish so require a long tank. Alot of people cram them in tiny tanks which can often lead to them being aggressive to tank mates.

Also, with regards to your planted tank, dependant upon how heavily you want to stock with plants, you could add fish slowly from the beginning.

Plus... check on your substrate that you have chosen, some specific 'planted substrates' release ammonia into the water column so could mess with your cycle. And, fish food takes a while to turn into ammonia and is usually a little hit and miss as you never know how much you're putting in and how much ammonia it is producung.

Looking forward to seeing the pics! Get a journal up and running in the planted section.

 

[KittyKat]

Danio's are a very active fish so require a long tank. Alot of people cram them in tiny tanks which can often lead to them being aggressive to tank mates.

…and stunted, which can lead to health problems.

Also, with regards to your planted tank, dependant upon how heavily you want to stock with plants, you could add fish slowly from the beginning.

Although it's good experience to do a fishless cycle first time, as it forces one to learn about the nitrogen cycle and gives a "cooling off" period for the final decision on stocking

 

[minnnt]

That i don't deny

 

[Hawks1980]

Thanks again for the great advice.

 

[Hawks1980]

Looking forward to seeing the pics! Get a journal up and running in the planted section.

I have now started a journal in the planted section, with a photo of how it is looking so far...no plants yet though.

Cheers

Tom.