Plants Vs Ammonia

[Preest]

I've just started to cycle a 10g tank and will have another 30 gal up and running soon. Should I hold off adding plants until after the cycle has completed? I've been told that plants thrive in a pre-cycle tank but wanted to run it by you guys before I do anything.

 

[TKOS]

Are you doing a fishless cycle or a fishy cycle? If it is fishless and you are adding pure ammonia I would not add plants. If there are fish in there then by all means add as many plants as you can as it will definatley help the survival rate of the fish.

 

[Preest]

Oh ya, forgot to add that I'm using goldfish to get my cycle going... Thanks for the advice.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have always had plants in at the start of fishless cycling. Why do you suggest not to do this?

Since plants eat ammonia, the total level of bacteria needed to keep a tank healthy is reduced. If you fishless cycle a tank and then add plants, the result will be a shrinkage of the bacterial colony as the plants take up the food. So by cycling and then planting it seems to me one is lengthening the period of cycling and then actually undoing a bunch of it to bring it into balance with the reduced need for bio from the addition of the plants.

 

[plantling]

hmmm, i just always thought the amount of ammonia needed to do fishless cycling wasn't good for plants. well i guess i learned something new.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have done fishless cycling on about 12 planted tanks to date. I do not use the method of adding ammonia until I get a specified level as shown on a test kit. I use the earlier method for fishless cycling where I dose 5-6 drops of ammonia per 10 gals of water. Once nitrites appear, or if they dont fairly quickly, I reduce the dosage to 3-4 drops/10 gals. (This is also the dosage level I use to temporarily keep a cycled tank cycled if it has no fish in it for a short time (a week or three).

The method of dose and test was considered to be a refinement to fishless cycling that would allow for use of ammonia of differing concentrations. It is a more accurate method but is not so friendly when it comes to cycling a planted tank.

One advantage to the method I use is that it gives plants time to establish decent roots in the substrate before the fish go in. Many fish uproot plants as a side effect of their normal rooting around for food in the substrate or picking algae off of plant leaves. Wen plants have not had time to anchor themselves, it is really easy for fish to turn them into floating plants.