Planted tank and new cycle

[Ryan87500]

I put about 10 jungle val in a 36 gallon now front tank that I started a fish less cycle on.

Everything says to use 4ppm of ammonia but I believe that is bad for the plants. What is the recommended ammonia if you have some plants in the tank?



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[Fresh2o]

I am not sure if the recommended about is different for a planted tank. I've done fishless with 4 ppm but you should be fine with 2 ppm. The plants will consume whatever ammonia is available to a point and the rest will simply accumulate until the BB population is large enough to deal with it. I would be cautious of going too low with the ammonia dose because you really don't know how much will be available for the BB since the plants will be consuming some of it. Yes, plants don add a variable into the cycle but they offer a buffer as well.
If you have the opportunity to use seasoned media then it will speed up the process greatly.


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[Ryan87500]

Thanks. I did try a sponge from someone's fish tank and unfortunately it didn't do anything. I took some biomax bags from a turtle tank yesterday so helping that helps.

My ammonia seems unchanged but I have nitrates and nitrites. Could that be from the bag of water I brought the biomax home in and dumped in my tank?


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[Fresh2o]

I think the presence of nitrate and nitrite are an indicator that the cycling is in progress. If it came from the water in the bag, then it would have been pretty concentrated considering the dilution factor in the tank.
Just keep testing daily and slow down with the ammonia if it gets above 4. If the nitrite gets too high, a PWC is often recommended since it has been claimed that high nitrite will stall a cycle.


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