Tank Cycling And Plants

[efina]

Hi everyone,

I'm new to the site but have already found loads of very great advice. I purchased a small 35l cold water tank about a year ago and have had mixed results with minnows and gold fish. I wish that I had known about the tank cycling as I'm sure this is why I lost a few fish. I'm guess the bacteria had not built up enough ... They never mention this in the tank instruction books !!


I have recently purchased a Juwel Rio 125 tank for tropical fish and 2x weeks ago added nutra soil as my bottom layer, then added my bog wood (which has been soaked for 4 weeks)and some rocks. It has been just over a week since I added the treated water and the tank has now cleared up. The bog wood does seem to have a layer of white fur on it, but I understand this is normal and will disappear over time. I now want to start the tank cycling and will be using the 'Add and Wait' method listed on the beginners section. What I would like to know is while I'm doing the cycle can I add plants and a CO2 system to the aquarium or should I wait until the cycle is complete ??

With regards to the Juwel Rio tank I'm also experiencing a small problem with the heater, I have set the heater to 20 degrees, but my digital thermometer is giving me a reading of around 29 degrees. Is this going to be too hot for a tropical tank ?? And is this a common problem with this range of tanks ??

Many thanks for any advice given.

 

[sadguppy]

Personally I think it's easier to wait and add the plants when you're cycled, but from what I've read and experienced it doesn't make any difference to the plants if they're put in early.

Are you sure the thermometer is working? If so, turn the heater off altogether. If it makes no difference after 12 hours it may be that the ambient room temperature is too hot, and you'll have to cool the tank down with surface agitation or bottles of ice.

It's fine now though as You are aiming for as high as possible while fishless cycling as bacteria establish faster at higher temps, but you need it at around 25 for most tropical fish once they are added.

 

[efina]

Thanks very much for the advice which is very much appreciated. I did wonder about the thermometer working correctly so I purchased a cheap one from my local pet store and they are reading about the same.

I will keep the temperature as is for the present and then bring the temperature down once the cycling has finished. Then I will add plants and then finally some fish.

Just visited your blog and very impressed with all your fish tanks !! That is some collection you have and it certainly looks like One-Eyed Willie is certainly enjoying his new home

 

[Essjay]

Some heaters can be badly calibrated. It's always better to set the heater to whatever number gives the temperature you want on a thermometer.
There are two reasons for not having plants in a fishless cycle, though you can work round both of them.
Firstly, plants use ammonia as food, so when your ammonia reading drops is that because the bacteria are growing or the plants are using it? You have to rely on just the nitrite readings to monitor the cycle's progress.
Secondly if there are live plants you need the lights on. But all that ammonia in the tank will encorage algae to grow and lights make algae grow worse which is why you normally do a fishless cycle with the lights off. With plants in the tank, you need the lights on, so more aglae grows.

 

[efina]

I'm quite surprised at how badly the heater has been calibrated, so I will certainly be using the thermometer as my check.

Thanks for the info on the fishless cycling, especially the comment with regards to doing the cycle with the lights off .... I hadn't thought of this. From the 2x comments received I think it best that I add the plants after the cycle.

Thanks again for your help.

 

[sadguppy]

I think it's fair to say that adding a few plants won't make a huge difference to the ammonia levels. Unless the floor of a tank is 75% planted or more it won't eat up the ammonia produced by a few fish, which is a lot less than you add in a fishless cycle.

If it did we wouldn't need biological filters! This is in fact possible, and it's known as silent cycling but it's beyond all but the most advanced and densely planted set-ups.

My thermometers are all a bit out but I'm surprised that yours is almost 10 degrees off. It's definitely worth playing with before you put any fish in to make sure that it's not faulty.

Oh and thank you for your nice comments! I really need to get a better camera so I can start taking nicer photos...