Cycling a 10

[djlen]

I got my 10 gallon "Q" tank up and filled and am now wondering whether to try just loading it up with plants and filter media from my already cycled tanks, or to go the old ammonia route. I've never tried it with just plants and need some feedback.
Also, can I add ammonia to it and will that facilitate the process or will it just kill the plants and take as long as if I just go with the old method? And how much ammonia can I add if I do?
Len

[SO00712]

my 10g paradise tnak cycld fast because I added some established filter from my other tank that has been established for baout 1 year then some filter media and it was completely cycled within 1-2 weeks plants will help speed up the cycle too.

[bodine]

If you put a fair amount of fast growing stem plants (ie hornwort, rotala etc.) then you shouldn't see to much of an ammonia spike. Adding existing filter media would only expedite the process further. I don't think that adding ammonia is necessary if you go this route.

[Tempest]

Fishless cycling and plants don't mix well. The plants will suffer from loads of algae from the ammonia. So do the fishless cycle first or just load it up with plants and forget the fishless cycle. Well planted tanks just plain don't cycle the way an unplanted one does.

[djlen]

Thank you gang....I had pretty much made up my mind to load it up with plants and let it cycle itself and was curious about the effect of adding ammonia.
Thanks again.
Len

[Starry]

Originally posted by Tempest
Fishless cycling and plants don't mix well. The plants will suffer from loads of algae from the ammonia. So do the fishless cycle first or just load it up with plants and forget the fishless cycle. Well planted tanks just plain don't cycle the way an unplanted one does.

When I set up my planted 10gal, I was paranoid because earlier a few of my fish died when I didn't know about cycling. So I planted it and went nuts with fishless cycling (even though I was only putting in 5 small platies - oh well). I didn't get any algae and my plants did great. In retrospect, I would've been just fine putting in my fish as soon as the flourite settled down, but doing the fishless thing didn't cause any problems either.

The problem with not cycling first is that if your plants aren't growing (which they might not be if they were just disturbed from moving - depends on the plant), or worse, dying, then they're not gonna do anything good for the water.

To djlen, if you're confident about your plant knowledge, I don't think you'll need to cycle at all. Just don't add 10 messy fish all at once.