Nitrogen Cycling In Tank With All Fake Plants

[VPARIKH3]

I just got a ten gallon tank and have purchased or fake/silk plants. I was wondering how do I get the nitrogen cycle working without plants? Does the conditioner Tetra Aquasafe contain bacteria? will they bacteria grow by themselves. The filter is a Tetra Whisper.

 

[Corleone]

No difference - as long as there's an ammonia source, the bacteria will begin to multiply. Most bottled products contain few if any live bacteria. Aquasafe is just a water conditioner - Tetra Safestart claims to contain live bacteria, but I've heard mostly failure from people who used it. There are, however, low amounts of the necessary bacteria just about everywhere. My first fishless cycle went without a hitch in a bare tank.

Cycling with live plants is only different because the plants themselves will use some amount of the ammonia, which can make the cycle appear to progress very quickly at the start, but the bacteria will take just as long to grow either way.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

as above the plants make little difference

there's actually a lot of discussion as to where the bacteria come from in the first place, most people think there's just small amounts in the water in the tap.

to cultivate it you need to add ammonia, if you read the link in my sig 'fishless cycling' this will explain it all too you.