heat and light question for fishless cycling:

The higher temperature means that the bacteria should reproduce faster, so it may speed up the cycle, how much? i don't know. It will cycle without a heater if you prefer to save the little bit of electricity.

Lights aren't needed. Biofilters in canister filters get now light. Algae may or may not form doing a fishless cycle. I don't think you need to cover up the tank though. If they aren't getting direct light you might get a small amount, but not alot, if any.

Personally I would get the plants now. If its not heavily planted, you probably wouldn't do a silent cycle anyway. It really doesn't matter though, most what you prefer. The only thing I can think of is that when I planted my tank the fish didn't exactly enjoy everything I was doing in there, but I was going for fairly heavy planting.

Mid 80's is the optimal temperature for our bacteria, so raising it to that point is not a bad idea. I usually set the temp at whatever I plan to keep the tank at. This gives me a month to make sure the tank will stay stable and my heaters are working properly. I do not know how much real difference the elevated temp will make, but do know that either will work.

As far as light, I agree there is no need to cover the tank unless it gets dirtect sunlight or a lot of ambient room light from something other than incandescent bulbs.

For a lot of good info check this link:
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=64301

dave

IMO, you could add the plants in the middle or near the end of of the cycle. This means you'll need you gravel or planting substrate ready from the beggining.

But, consider plants need nitrogen as a nutrient, and they can extract it more easily from ammonia than from nitrates, which could lead to a reduction on the ammonia available to your growing biological filter.

This would mean to add the plants when your ammonia reading are about 0.25 ppm, and keep it that high until your tank measures low nitrites and starts showing nitrates at a consistant rate. You'll need to keep the temp stable and provide a proper lighting to your plants.

At this point, you should stop adding ammonia, wait until your values are 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites, do a water change large enough to bring the nitrates to a low concentration and add your fish.

This is just a hypothesis. To my understanding, it should work. If you want, you can try it and post your results.

Note: if you add plants at the beggining of cycle, the recommended ammonia level (5ppm) will surely kill or damage the plants easily.

Adding plants during an ammonia-driven fishless cycle is poor practice and an invitation to algae. Have I done it? Yes, but I am not a novice fish keeper or plant grower and was lucky as well as using plants from my other tanks (no water or lighting adjustment period at all). If you already adept at plants, plant fully and get the plants established, then add the fish slowly. Your cycle will be "silent" if your plants are growing well. If you are a novice with fish and plants, fishless cycle and add the fish first. Don't plant until the tank is stable.