Planted Tank, No fish, No filter: Is this bad?

[illgore_trout]

Hi,

I planted a tank about four weeks ago with a few plants, mosses, driftwood, etc all in an Amazonia substrate. I have not yet put a filter in, although the pump is on and the water does circulate/break the surface adding O2.

Is it bad to have not cycled it and to not have a filter for this long?
I will add fish in a few months. I had planned on adding fish earlier, but we are moving and I figured it would be easier to move a tank that only has plants growing.

Thanks,
illgore

 

[jpappy789]

Plants do not require filtration. In fact, they would rather use the ammonia/nitrites themselves.

 

[illgore_trout]

Ammonia levels are between 0 and 0.25
Nitrate's a tad high, and nitrites are close to optimal for a tank with fish.

thanks for the quick reply jpappy

 

[Mgamer20o0]

it will be fine as long as there is water movement.

 

[jpappy789]

MG's right about the movement as well. If you are not dosing any form of carbon/Co2 you need some sort of surface agitation for gas exchange.

 

[illgore_trout]

Now if I wanted to add my betta to the tank of just plants, do I need a filter? Do I need to cycle it ahead of time with some snails?

My betta currently lives in a rectangular vase that is planted with some fern and moss. He has been in there for almost a year now with weekly water changes going on. Half of the plants in my planted tank were originally in the betta tank: this includes about three java ferns and a medium sized piece of drift wood with moss on it. They were transferred to the unfiltered, planted tank four weeks ago.

Please advise and thanks in advance. this forum is great. I joined two years ago, but hadn't posted but once.

 

[jpappy789]

Depends. If you are going for a Diana Walstad tank ("Ecology of the Planted Aquarium") then no, however 99% of the time you will need a filter. Filter-less tanks require a low bioload with lots of plants, ones that suck up nutrients quickly such as stem plants. Although bacteria can grow on any solid surface, filters provide the most efficient housing. You could technically cycle with snails, however, you would need more than just a few to get a sufficient ammonia level to build up the bacteria. I would suggest using pure ammonia or get some pre-established media from a local source (friend, LFS, etc.).

 

[Blitzkrieger]

What size of a tank do you have?

 

[illgore_trout]

My tank is 6.6 gallon, "bookshelf" style.

jpappy, would adding my waste water from the betta tank help cycle the larger tank once I add a filter?

 

[KarlTh]

No. The water's just water. It's the bacteria you need, and they do not live freely in the water column.