new to freshwater exp. saltwater set-up question

[trrogers]

I have a JBJ nano tank with compact flourecents and am going to start a planted tank...I am using RODI water and am gettting the substrate fertilizer mixed with gravel. The tank has only been set-up for a couple of days and cycling with fish food...but I was told I could add plants while cycling..Is this ok??? With saltwater you can't and I want to do this right and double check. It's so hard to look at an empty tank though! Besides the saltwater tank has ended up being my husbands tank and I like the idea of small water changes and something that's not too time consuming. Thank you in advance and I'm sure I will posting again soon!

Trish

 

[rich311k]

Yes you can plant right from the begining. The plants will help with the cycle. If you have a lot of light, plant heavily right away it will make your life easier. Are you planning on CO2?

 

[trrogers]

I am looking into it....it is a small tank and I won't have alot of room for too many plants but was looking at Fosters and Smith( I think) and they had a natural Co2 gizmo that is for small tanks like mine and makes it by sugar fermenting in the chamber and a flat bubble chamber releases it into the tank. Sounds cool but not sure if it would work. I really don't want to put too much money into this right now either as I am not making as much money right now ( we had the nano cube hanging around unused so I decided to have my own little oasis).

Trish

 

[AquaJoe]

If it is of any help to you; when cycling my most recent tank (29 gallon FW) with fish food/waste water from a pwc I heavily planted the tank. The plants did very well and in fact seemed to flourish.

All in all, I would say that planting during the cycle period is not a problem at all.

Best,
Joe