Fish: Re: [tropical fish club] Larry B, fishless cycling

Sunday, October 28, 2012

Re: [tropical fish club] Larry B, fishless cycling

On 10/28/2012 10:17 AM, Cari wrote:
> What is your fishless cycling method? I saw you mentioned in another thread that's what you do. I am trying it now. You are the only one that I think I read has done it.
>
> Do you let ammonia levels come down to zero before dosing again, or do you try to keep ammonia level high and watch fit nitrite to go to zero?

I have an advantage - planted tanks. Once the ammonia goes to zero, I
add fish. If the tank is heavily planted I can add fish without any
cycling at all - the plants eat the ammonia. They do pretty well on the
nitrites and nitrates as well.

I once did a tank with Eco-complete as a substrate, put in plants that
multiplied quickly and added fish a week or so later after the plants
got well rooted. I never saw *any* ammonia or nitrites and the nitrates
built up pretty slowly. I didn't use CO2 but I did the lighting at 2
watts per gallon and added Flourish Excel (*not* the same as Flourish) a
couple of times a week.

But if you want a more conventional method, this covers it pretty well:

http://www.oscarfishlover.com/helpful-articles/cycling-an-aquarium/fishless-cycle

BTW, plants can be as fussy as fish about water parameters. I have hard
alkaline water and can't grow Java ferns at all. Other people swear by
them. Here's the best plant guide I've found:

http://www.tropica.com/en/plants/plant-list-a-z.aspx

Click on a plant to get a popup full of info.

Larry B

--
It's turtles, all the way down!