Adding Plants While Cycling

[beauxarts]

First off I would like to thank everyone for the great resource this forum has been. It has really helped someone new to the hobby, like myself, to get started on the right foot.

Last week I found a 38g tank and after preforming some leak tests, cleaning and purchasing the necessary equipment, last night I finally got the tank up and running and started cycling.

So I am still deciding on the fish I am planning to stock, but I have several weeks to make that decision while the tank is cycling. Though I have decided I would like to try my hand at live plants. Now I know I need to wait till the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate content levels out before I add fish, but is this the same case with plants?

I am sure I will have more questions as time goes on but we will start with this one.

Thanks.

 

[fort384]

You can cycle with plants. What are u seeding the tank with?

Welcome to AA btw!

 

[Blueiz]

Make sure that your lighting will support live plants. If it will, you can possibly silently cycle your tank with live plants in it by stocking it very slowly since the live plants will use the fish waste.

 

[beauxarts]

fort - I have yet to get that far in my research. Do you have any suggestions on something for a beginner?

Blueiz - Currently I only have a 24" basic fluorescent for lighting. I am planning on picking up a full spectrum tube before I start planting. Would that be enough? Or should I plan on upgrading my lighting?

 

[Blueiz]

You should plan on upgrading your lighting. Is your tank a tall one or a long one?

 

[FishEggs]

you could get away with the stock light with a daylight spectrum bulb for a little while but then when you want more different types of plants you will need to upgrade the lights. stick to very low light plants like java fern, anacharis, java moss....

 

[beauxarts]

the tank is 20" in height, so I assume I have a tall tank.

Do full spectrum bulbs take a while to warm up? I just went out to get one and 10 minutes later the bulb still has yet to turn fully on.

I am assuming my light is shot.

 

[rkilling1]

NH3 + light = algae

If you already started cycling your tank and have NH3 showing up, I would not add a lot of plants. Maybe a couple to help seed the tank, but not a whole tank full. IE not running a lot of light.

 

[fort384]

But... plants will also use NH3. I have cycled a couple of tanks with 3+ WPG of light and many plants with no problems.

The light bulb or ballast for your light is probably shot. The bulbs should fire up right away. But, the good news (I guess) is that you probably need new lighting anyway to grow plants. A 24" T-8 florescent (I am guessing this is what you have) would only put out ~17W. You would need to about double that just to grow low light plants. If you are looking to expand into a higher tech setup with more difficult plants, fertilizer and co2 addition, you would need to look at somewhere around 80-100W+ of lighting.



When I mentioned seeding the tank... you said you were cycling it - how are you cycling? Are you adding ammonia of some sort, or are you cycling with fish? What I am getting at is just filling the tank and running it will not cycle it. There has to be a source of ammonia.

 

[rkilling1]

But... plants will also use NH3. I have cycled a couple of tanks with 3+ WPG of light and many plants with no problems.

I would have to agree with you, but ...

If you add light to a tank that contains A LOT of NH3, you are asking for an algae problem. 'A lot' of NH3 would pretty much mean anything more then detectable.

If you are cycling with 3 WPG and have plenty of plants, the plants will consume most of the NH3 and the bacteria that resides on the plants would help with the rest.

It really all depends on the status of the cycle. No or little NH3, add plants and go. 3 PPM NH3, you better be careful with how much light you add.

 

[fort384]

Agreed!