Hi Dawn,
While using plants to control the ammonia given off by fish cannot be
consider in the farthest stretch of the imagination to be considered as "cycling"
a tank, when it's the plants that are controlling the ammonia and not the
bacteria, I agree that nitrifying bacteria would be present on their surfaces
if they were removed from an established tank -- and rinsed appropriately
with tank water. You also made a good point when stating, "The key in using
this method is in understanding the plants and the balance needed for plants
and fish (waste). Just as you also said though, you've "seen many
references to people keeping planted tanks and see a lack of understanding in what
makes up a 'fully planted' tank vs just a planted tank."
You also stress that it takes a lot of plants to utilize a small amount of
waste, which many of us realize, but unfortunately all to few -- and all of
what you've said contributes to one major point I am trying go make -- that
most members here don't realize that it takes a good many plants to consume
relatively little ammonia, and that they need a well-planted tank to control
the ammonia. Further, most hobbyists do not have a full understanding, not
only of what makes up a fully [lanted tank, but they have no concept in
what makes a balance of plants and fish (waste). It's for this reason, I
cannot endorse such a method on these Lists, as without the hobbyists having an
undertanding of it, they're prone to failure. .
As I stated in my previous post, a fully planted tank is subjective,
subject to that particular hobbyist's planting preferences in the amount of plants
one uses. There is no formula or even rough guideline for them to follow
in attempting any kind of balance, and unfortunately they themselves don't
have the first clue.
But, even if this "balance" were accidentally found, this would still not
constitute having a nitrogen cycle in the tank -- at least not one that can
come close to utilizing the ammonia given off by a normal stocking of fishes
if these bacteria needed to be relied upon to do this job themselves. What
would happen if the heater stuck on long enough to kill many of the plants
but not cook the fishes (and there are many plants that suffer before 90 o is
reached)? I don't think I need to tell you; without the needed amount of
plants, and with grossly inadequate bacteria populations, the ammonia is
going to rise at rate directly dependent on the amount of fish in the tank (many
hobbyists stock at levels more towards the limit rather than more sparsely,
even if they don't exceed it). A full cycle of nitrifying bacteria, on the
other hand, will survive until 120 o, although of course by that time every
fish will be dead -- but the point here is that these bacteria will survive
temperatures where they and fish will make it through while many plants
will perish. A tank will still stay fully cycled at 90 o -- if of course, it
was cycled in the firtst place -- and so will most fishes survive, provided
the alert hobbyist is aware enough to pull the heater plug. Nitrifying
bacteria actually thrive best at 86 o, although we seldom want our fish up in
that range.
Ray</HTML>
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