Cycling 12 gallon Eclipse... slow...

[Ms.Bubbles]

I always tell people that when they start up a new tank, they should go either of 2 ways:

1. Fill the tank with a lot of fast-growing plants that can balance the fishload's ammonia output and forget about cycling

2. Do fishless cycling with ammonia, then put the plants in after the final water change.

Trying to do both together doesn't work well and complicates matters. If your plants are consuming all the ammonia produced by your fish, you will NEVER see nitrites in your tank.

 

[LunchBox]

I always tell people that when they start up a new tank, they should go either of 2 ways:

1. Fill the tank with a lot of fast-growing plants that can balance the fishload's ammonia output and forget about cycling

2. Do fishless cycling with ammonia, then put the plants in after the final water change.

Trying to do both together doesn't work well and complicates matters. If your plants are consuming all the ammonia produced by your fish, you will NEVER see nitrites in your tank.

what she said the less complicated the situation the easier it is to monitor your progress.

live planted tanks don't typically need to cycle in the same sense as one with fake plants, as the live plants will replace much of your biological filtration needs that would normally be done by your bacteria colony.