Si's Fishless Cycle

[Twinklecaz]

Simon, oddly now I'm nearly cycled my PH is lower for no apparent reason. My tank is like 6.8 but my tap water is about 7.5. And this was the new water that had only been in the tank about 24 hours!

 

[PDSimon]

I think fish will produce quite a lot less of ammonia and therefore much less nitrite will lower the pH...

Do you think if I call 911 I can get in contact with waterdrop

 

[Twinklecaz]

Pfft, I don't want mine any lower than that. 6.8 is ok I think, it's almost neutral which I think is ok for the fish I want.

It's good for you to have lower PH isn't it for your Rams?

 

[JoshuaA]

I think you shuold think about removing those plants to a bowl lol, They're going to get a little screwed over by the ammonia concentrations at the moment right?

AHHH the post man is walking down the street at the moment, in a matter of minutes we will find if my plants have arrived!

Not today

 

[Twinklecaz]

How annoying! This is why I don't wanna order mine online - I'll need to be sure they arrive on a Saturday. Plan is to get my plants on a Saturday and fish on the Sunday......whichever weekend that may be!

 

[JoshuaA]

Well its that or I pay a stupid amount from a pet store, although I will probably buy my Anubias from LFS as I want to get a good choice on them. I want a variety of plants and don't want to really start from scratch on them.

Although Simon, please do tell us if your plants are coping well I would happily plant my aquarium if they survive well.

 

[Twinklecaz]

I may have to though......if I can't find the plants I want in the shop. Also they looked like crap in there the other day!

I supposed I could put them in a bowl if they came mid-week!

 

[JoshuaA]

Bowl + sunlight = should be fine. Most of the GOOD online retailers will only post them at the start of the week to ensure they come the same week, otherwise you might have them lying around in the weekend.

I asked for..

Amazon swords (5 of)
Canadian Pondweed (10 of)
Other weeds + soft water plants by his recommendation (10 of)

I'll take a picture when they do eventually arrive for you guys to see! I'm thinking about buying a selection of bulbs too though as they look like they could be VERY simple.

 

[Twinklecaz]

Yeah I want Amazon Swords. I did want Java Ferns too but I wanted to plant them . I like the plants with big leaves like that. Then I need some ideas really. I need some small ones for the front (are they Rosette ones?) and some to create hiding places. I don't think I'll need that many in the end to be honest, there's not that much room. Oh and all they all need to be low tech/light.

Where did you order yours from?

Oh and I want one floating one for my Gouramis.....they have "frog" in the name!

 

[PDSimon]

Yeah, I would like a pH of 6-6.5 for the rams...as I will keep tetras too they will also prefer it.

I have a blog in the planted section of the forum. There are so many plants it would make a right mess in the bowl... The plants will have to stay but I should move the bogwood out, there are just plants attached to it lol.

The good thing about buying from the green machine is, for example you get vallis for.. 5.95.. you think its expensive but when you get it you have atleast 10 plants. I got a big sword but you're meant to take off any leaves that touch the surface as well as remove any outer leaves as they die so its only got 5 leaves hah.

Most plants are still alive. I wish I could start dosing the ferts and carbon properly with fish in there because the plants will pay for it.

There are plently of plants for your liking twinkle, i'd look at cryptocorynes, amazon swords are echinodorus so look at other echinodorus species too. I think java ferns can be planted on the ground you just can't cover the risozome or whatever the hell its called.

this is the latest pic, i've trimmed it quite a bit since this though and removed leaves off things

There is no reason this can't be sucessful, it just may be that some plants don't do as well as others and a lot of the growth will be slow/ish compared to c02 dosing anyway.

I have tropica substrate(which won't have any effect until the roots of the plants develop quite a bit), tropica root tabs and I need to use ferts and carbo but like I said its a bit pointless with all these waterchanges

 

[Twinklecaz]

That looks so good, what are those little plants at the front? How did you attach your plants to the bogwood in the end? and what are they?

I understand so little about plants to be honest. Do I need to get some carbo and tabs? I have some plant food but it's liquid?

 

[Liverbird36]

Yeah, I would like a pH of 6-6.5 for the rams...as I will keep tetras too they will also prefer it.

I have a blog in the planted section of the forum. There are so many plants it would make a right mess in the bowl... The plants will have to stay but I should move the bogwood out, there are just plants attached to it lol.

The good thing about buying from the green machine is, for example you get vallis for.. 5.95.. you think its expensive but when you get it you have atleast 10 plants. I got a big sword but you're meant to take off any leaves that touch the surface as well as remove any outer leaves as they die so its only got 5 leaves hah.

Most plants are still alive. I wish I could start dosing the ferts and carbon properly with fish in there because the plants will pay for it.

There are plently of plants for your liking twinkle, i'd look at cryptocorynes, amazon swords are echinodorus so look at other echinodorus species too. I think java ferns can be planted on the ground you just can't cover the risozome or whatever the hell its called.

this is the latest pic, i've trimmed it quite a bit since this though and removed leaves off things

There is no reason this can't be sucessful, it just may be that some plants don't do as well as others and a lot of the growth will be slow/ish compared to c02 dosing anyway.

I have tropica substrate(which won't have any effect until the roots of the plants develop quite a bit), tropica root tabs and I need to use ferts and carbo but like I said its a bit pointless with all these waterchanges

Looking great !!!!

 

[PDSimon]

That looks so good, what are those little plants at the front? How did you attach your plants to the bogwood in the end? and what are they?

I understand so little about plants to be honest. Do I need to get some carbo and tabs? I have some plant food but it's liquid?

Eleocharis parvula at the front...apparently quite easy to grow so I thought i'd take a shot.

You don't 'need to', thats the thing about plants... I've tried to pick plants with very low demands... but I want them to flourish but without c02 and high tech stuff... so i've gone for the carbo and stuff.

You could imo just just really low demanding plants such as swords and java moss and leave them really... its all about what you want to do..

I attached the plants with cyanoacrylate superglue. my plant food (tropica plant nutrition+) is also liquid, it contains micro and macro nutrients so its quite good +reliable

like i said you dont need these things tabs would just help slightly..might be a good idea if you dont have a fertile substrate

you shouldn't listen to me anyway all of these plants could die

Looking great !!!!

Thanks

 

[Twinklecaz]

Lol! Where do you get that glue?

 

[PDSimon]

already had it but you could probably get it from b&q oh and the plants I attached were java ferns but narrow leaved and on the right is anubias var. nana or something like that