Stocking the planted tank

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Jason the Lost

Aquarium Advice Activist
Joined
Aug 16, 2005
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155
Location
Chicago
So I have a small delivery of plants coming tomorrow for my 55, about 12 items. As of now there are no fish in the tank. Is somthing needed to supplement the plants while the bioload builds up from stocking fish?

After I have the plants in for a couple of days I was planning on buying 3-4 cories to get the ball rolling...will this cause stress to the plants?
 
Is this your only tank?

I am starting a brand new 10 gal. My plants will hopefully be here tomorrow, and I will give them some "food" by taking 5 gallons or so from my mature tank and putting it in the new tank. This will also help to start the biological filter in the new tank.

In addition I am bringing over a small piece of driftwood that should have plenty of bacteria on it. I figure that by Sat I will add a few fish and keep the biological ball rolling. I plan to keep an eye on ammonia from there.
 
I would not do anything for the plants necessarily - just give them their photoperiod and proper temperature, and when you get your fish they will be established.

The cycling process will not hurt the plants at all (in fact plants can uptake ammonium and nitrite as well as nitrate), but may I suggest hardier fish for cycling? Cory cats might not be the best choice. If you have some hardy tetras, for example, on your stocking list I'd start with them if you are doing a fishy cycle.

Otherwise, you can do a fishless cycle adding liquid ammonia directly to the tank every day until the cycle is complete, or you can purchase all of your fish at once and use Bio-Spira. This way the fish don't have to suffer through the cycle.
 
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