A few questions / ideas fishless cycling & plants

:hi:

I apologize if this goes off on a ramble.......here goes.

Equipment waiting to begin its journey:

Amiracle Pro-Line 2000 wet/dry filter
Magnun 350 canister (not certain if needed)
Mag7 pump
48" All-Glass twin light hood w/ 1-Power-Glo & 1-Life-Glo 40w bulbs
250w sub heater
All-Glass 72g Bow tank with Mega Flow


I want to have a planted tank and have done lots of reading on plant types, lighting, substrate etc.. Also, have read a lot about it's not recommended to do a fishless cycle with a planted tank. How do you do a fishless cycle and then plant the tank? Empty the tank to lay substrate and plant? It's seems very daunting to plant a tank after cycling....any advice?

Now, what I think is a unique question :duh: ...

Can I do a cycling in only the wet/dry? Attach a pump to circulate the water through the chambers - bio-balls -. Add Bio-Spira.?.?.? Wouldn't this accomplish the same thing? I will not have to fill the 72g tank up and I could take time to plan the layout. I understand that if this does work out and after i plant the tank, there may be a "fight" for the ammonia by the plants and the bio-balls for food. I would think the plants would win and there will be some die-off in the bio-balls. But, I think that's a fair trade off.

I'm asking this because I'm uncertain how well I will do at planting a tank. I would love to have a well planted tank but expenses are tight (not choking) atm and I thought having a cycled filter ready would be a backup/safety net if the plants fail.


Thank you much for taking thetime to read through! I look forward to any replies. :coffee2:

I have looked through a few DIY CO2 systems and I thought I would just buy one that's about $30. and you add tablets to a chamber. I've done a bit of reserach on CO2 systems too so, I don't want you to think I'll completely clueless about them.. Everything from the 2liter bottles to studying how much surface area and contact time with water and air is recommended. I know the $30. is not the best but, it's one of the only ones I can feel comfortable with right now.

The lighting is not the brightest and I know I won't be able to have a great variety of plants. The choices for a beginner planter seem to have low requirements anyways. The 2 bulbs are listed above =) They only equal 80w....below the 1.5w/gal rule.


I've tested the tank out for about 3 days just to look for leaks and such. I placed some filter material (the blue poly stuff) in the mid chamber before the bio-balls and also placed some on top of the bio-balls to lighten the sound of the water pouring through the drip plate -- was that ok? It was all just a test, I didn't begin any cycling and the tank has been drained. But, if I do start up again I would like to keep that configuration in the wet/dry.