advice for first aquascape please. :-)

[herbzIOW]

What I want to know is, does the tank have to be cycled before I can put the plants in? Thanks

 

[ztigris]

No, you can put plants in while you are filling it with water. Have fun with your tank! It's so much fun!

 

[Rivercats]

Actually if you plant your tank very heavily, I mean like 80% at least of the substrate planted you can get your tank to do a silent cycle which occurs very quickly. But the trick is putting tons of plants, especially fast growing plants like Water sprite, Wisteria, and Stem Plant. I silent cycled my 220g tank in 10 days doing this.

 

[herbzIOW]

Thanks for the replys. Could you Maby explain a bit more about silent cycles for me please?

 

[Rivercats]

The ‘silent cycle’ is where you fill the aquarium 80% or more with densely planted aquatic plants such as Water sprite, wisteria, fast growing stem plants such as hornwort, elodia, anacharis, and many others. These plants mop up the ammonia and nutrients in the water shorting the cycle time. You do need decent light levels in your tank and I've never tried it in a low light tank since low light isn't conducive to rapid plant growth. All my tanks are med-high to high light tanks. But even adding some plants to your tank will help cycle it faster and the more plants you add the faster it can go so do add plants as soon as you have the tank filled with declorinated water. Also you can Google "silent cycle" with plants and get tons of information. I just gave you a very shorten explaination.

 

[herbzIOW]

Thank you. I googled it earlier and this is how I am going to cycle the tank. Thanks again

 

[aqua_chem]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's important that the stocking for the length of the cycle, 1-2 months, is extremely light, only a handful of fish. Otherwise you may overwhelm the uptake ability of your plants. This is especially true if they are brand new plants, and need a few weeks to adjust to your tank before they get into the swing of things.

 

[herbzIOW]

Thanks. That's fine though. I'm using 3 zebra danio's with the plants. The tank also has a layer of fertilizer to help the plants on their way. what are the benefits of using a wave maker in an aquascape?

 

[Rivercats]

No advantage that I know of.

 

[Rivercats]

It hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's important that the stocking for the length of the cycle, 1-2 months, is extremely light, only a handful of fish. Otherwise you may overwhelm the uptake ability of your plants. This is especially true if they are brand new plants, and need a few weeks to adjust to your tank before they get into the swing of things.

So true I may have added my 14 adult angels at 14 days but that wasn't much in a 220g tank. After them it was awhile before I added any new fish.

 

[herbzIOW]

I'd of thought wave makers served some purpose as all the lfs have wave makers in their aquascapes or heavily planted tanks. Maby promote stronger stems or something??

 

[aqua_chem]

Are you confusing wave makers and powerheads perhaps? Powerheads can be us to larger tanks if your circulation isn't sufficient for whatever reason.

 

[herbzIOW]

Aren't they the same thing? On eBay their the same thing and the lfs's call the powerheads wave makers as well

 

[aqua_chem]

Wave makers will generally have a second component that makes them oscillate in power, creating waves, while powerheads are always on and will make a more constant directional current.

 

[herbzIOW]

These things

 

[herbzIOW]

? ?

 

[Rivercats]

That is a powerhead, not a wave maker.

 

[herbzIOW]

The box says circulation and wave pump which must be why people call it a wave maker rather than pump

 

[Rivercats]

The box says circulation and wave pump which must be why people call it a wave maker rather than pump]

Now I know what your talking about it is a power head BUT it is the power head that Koralia makes to "power" their wavemaker which is a totally different item. I actually use Koralia nano power heads in my 220g to add extra water circulation where there isn't enough in the tank.

 

[herbzIOW]

That's ok. That means I have what I want for the job I want it to do, I just got the name confused. Many thanks.