Alshain said:
The point of fishless cycling is to be able to add a full load immediately, if I don't do that then the bacteria will starve. I don't see the connection between algae and plants. Algae will grow even if there aren't any plants and ammonia will be in the tank even if you don't fishless cycle. That argument doesn't really hold water.
Really? And do you currently have algae...yes you do. Do I have algae when I silent cycle? No, myself and hundreds of other using this method do not.
You don't see a connection between algae and plants? Okay, lets look at this logically. I'm not trying to be a smarty pants, just want to defend the reason behind what I say...I don't make this stuff up, there is science and logic along with testing in gobs of my own planted tanks over a 30+ year period.
Take an empty aquarium. Add substrate and tank decorations fill with water. That's fairly sterile. Add 5ppm of ammonia. You need not have lights on and the tank takes 4-6 weeks to fishless cycle. Good job.
Now change that a bit. Add substrate and tank decorations fill with water. Now add live plants. Even if you dip the plants in bleach some algae spores will survive and be introduced into the aquarium. Now add the 5ppm of ammonia. While plants do use ammonium it is done at very low concentrations...at 5ppm the plants are in a toxic amount of ammonia and the algae spores they carried into the tank will shift into high gear. Water that contains lights needed to keep the plants alive help drive this already bad situation further. By the time the fishless cycled planted tank is cycled it is a frustrating mess of algae issues that makes regaining control tough...not to mention the plants health suffers from being exposed to high levels of ammonia and nitrite.
Ammonia or Ammonium is the leading cause of algae in fish tanks. Be they planted or unplanted, be it free floating algae, attached, or filamentous algae. If I want algae right now in my tanks all I need to do is add some ammonia...I know I've tested this many times. Disturb the substrate too much without doing a water change and you'll cause a temporary ammonia spike...algae soon follows. The point is simple, ammonia feeds algae more than plants. The condition that favors algae over plants is one that is polluted. Check any natural setting...once the water is polluted algae flourishes and plants fail. Fishless cycling is a form of polluting a tank...but if done without plants there isn't a problem because the water cane be filtered and changed prior to adding the plants and without heavy lighting the algae is less likely to become a problem and without introducing algae spores via the plants the odds aren't as great as they would be if plants were introduced. Additionally because plants don't grow in toxic levels of ammonia they begin to leak other nutrients back into the water column futher fueling potential algal issues.
Regarding ammonia in the tank when doing a silent cycle. Again I'll appeal to your logical side. Where does a nitrifying bio-film colonize the most? Answer...where O2 levels are high and food (ammonia and nitrite) are available. Plants themselves carry a nice bio-film of nitrifying bacteria on them. Placing healthy growing plants in you tank adds an element that can easily process the ammonia produced from a few fish...the plants accomplish this both through direct uptake and the bio-films that coat them. Done right, and the is the key. doing it right, a planted tank can be safely cycled without any measurable ammonia or nitrite be detected. Additionally for a silent cycle you must inject CO2 which adds the benefit of the ammonia existing as almost entirely less toxic ammonium due to the pH likely being below neutral.
Again, I fully appreciate fishless cycling and support its use for non-planted tanks. And I fully recommend fishless cycling a low light planted tank...just finish the cycling prior to adding the plants and you will save yourself the algae and eroding plant health issues.
And lastly, about adding the full amount of fish immediately after fishless cycling. I will also have my tank fully cycled if I silent cycle. And additionally...again, I'm all for fishless cycling just not with plants included for all the reasons I've alluded to.
I think this holds water very tightly, but as always its just information that you can decide to accept or reject. Check this against other sources of information and decide for yourself.