Si's Fishless Cycle

[kaivalagi]

mmmmm, very tempting to just jump in there Si...

WD, thanks for the detailed info

 

[PDSimon]

Very tempting...

Especialy seeing as that waterchanges are easy as I can just syphon it out.

 

[JoshuaA]

Hey Si... Go ask on the planted section of the forum how much plants will consume in Ammonia/Nitrite per day on average and how heavily you would need to plant the tank without using CO2 or Ferts. You may be able to compensate and suck those extra nitrite up through plants. However I guess we can assume if you are putting 50% of your fish in you will roughly only be putting in 50% of the Ammonia. Theoretically your filter should cope with it should it not?

Since I've started cycling my Betta tank I'm tempted to take such option as the planted forum section there are multiple posts about not needing to cycle and using the plants. So I'm tempted to get my filter almost to the point of 0.0 and then plant the tank heavily with moss balls, amazon swords, java fern etc Wait a day to see if the left over from the fishless are still in the water. If not great and take it on from there. It is a combination of them both and since I'm only putting 1 betta in and 4 corys the total population is going to be under 4ppm Ammonia in the tank.

 

[kaivalagi]

At both your planned fish loads I would bet your bacteria colonies would cope just fine...

 

[PDSimon]

Yeah its interesting... I don't want to go overboard with the plants though. I would imagine the filter could manage the first stocking quite well but it was just whether there was a risk or not. As Kaivalgi was saying, he had a few days of waterchanges and with syphoning its not difficult to do..

It's true and i think the walstad method which is even more interesting is something i'll do in the future, seems much more of a good balance.

edit: I think so kaiv.. hmmmm

 

[waterdrop]

I feel a beginner (by which I simply mean those first times to do a tank, not that you are knowledgeable from all the info flying around here, lol) should never rely on the idea that the plants will do the job of the filter bacteria. Yes, its a wonderful thing that when done well they can accomplish some of this, but its just a rule in my mind not to count on it. Most of our experienced planted members have experience with starting multiple tanks in a planted method.

gotta go... WD

 

[PDSimon]

Its not that i'm relying, its just an additional benefit...

I'm thinking of planting on tuesday/wednesday and see how the results go from there, from what you said i'm tempted to get a fish soon after.

Cheers for the help all

 

[JoshuaA]

Its a combination of the two methods WD !

I'm seeing 0.0s so its ok, however for Simon... It would be reasonable to think though if he heavily planted the tank that they would consume the remaining 0.25 Nitrite. That is if his filter couldn't cope with 50% of the load he is planning to stock at initially.

 

[PDSimon]

But it will cope!

 

[JoshuaA]

But it will cope!

You keep thinking that Simon, you keep thinking that

 

[waterdrop]

Its a combination of the two methods WD !

I'm seeing 0.0s so its ok, however for Simon... It would be reasonable to think though if he heavily planted the tank that they would consume the remaining 0.25 Nitrite. That is if his filter couldn't cope with 50% of the load he is planning to stock at initially.

No I know, but even as a combo I wouldn't trust it too much. Its so easy for it to turn on you. The plants start out great and then there's something they don't like about the tank so they start to die off and suddenly you've got -more- ammonia and nitrite on your hands rather than less. Of course, I should just shut up and watch, since you guys are in the UK and I have this thing thinking that somehow most in the UK do better with plants than we do in the states lol.

WD

 

[PDSimon]

WD, just to confirm... are you sure it would be ok to stock then without the double 0's?

 

[JoshuaA]

UK do better with plants than we do in the states lol.

I'm flattered Waterdrop

Well another day of 0.0 for us, our plants are on order + moss balls. At the earliest we will start stocking on wednesday, otherwise it will be inconvenient on my girlfriend to do it afterwards however I will still be able to do water changes/tests when she can't.

Trying to start a cycle on my own 40L tank for a Betta but I was getting some odd readings, from removing some filter media from my girlfriends tank it went from 4ppm Ammonia to 1ppm the next day then nowt. The filter is a pile of crap though I think (Stingray 15) the water flow is capable of divert all the filter media as the casing doesn't always seal properly and then I can come back to it and find out opened slightly.

All I can say to Simon about the plants is... don't buy plants meant for hard water It's what happened when first stocked our tank and they withered in about a week.

Finally... I just got chilli sauce in my eye whilst writing this, don't type with one hand and attempt to eat your dinner with the other.

 

[kaivalagi]

UK do better with plants than we do in the states lol.

I'm flattered Waterdrop

Calm down

 

[JoshuaA]

Calm down

Just made me feel all warm and fuzzy

Messing around aside, what were the results this morning Simondé?