??? about cycling a 55 gal

[newlywed]

I'm not quite sure how to go about cycling my 55 gal tank. My plans are to eventually have both plants and fish in the tank. Should I put some plants in during the cycling stage? Will this help it along? I'd also like to use Tiger Barbs to cycle the tank. In a 55 gal, how many would I need? I'd hate to invest a whole lot of money in fish only to have many of them die during the cycle. I've read about the fishless cycle and am still considering that but I would really prefer to do it the old fashioned way!
So, help me out!!! How would you cycle my 55 gal tank?

TIA!!!

 

[ferret]

There are some fast growing plants that will eat up the ammonia and essentially provide a quick-start cycle. Try the planted forum for more information about keeping the plants themselves though before trying that route. I've done it myself, though.

 

[William]

You could just go buy Bio-Spira and have an insta-cycle.
'
Just buy enough for a 55gal tank, add your fish at the same time, and plants whenever yhou want

 

[newlywed]

I am considering the Bio-Spira and will have to see if my LFS has it. That would definitely be the way to go!

 

[Orca]

Newlywed, I just went through my first tank cycle. I tried the fish and real plants approach like you’re thinking of doing. If I had to do it again, I’d do it without the real plants.

For me, having the plants in the tank complicated things. Too much to worry about all at one time. I think the plants were OK on the lighting, but they didn’t have the nutrients they needed to survive. Adding fertilizers to a cycling tank just didn’t seem like a good idea to me. I didn’t really know what I was doing and thought that by trying to save the plants, I’d put additional stress on my fish.

So I ended up focusing on doing whatever it took to get the fish to survive the cycle, and let the plants fend for themselves so to speak. The end result was that all the plants died, and the fish all survived.

Now that I have a cycled and stable tank, and the fish are all healthy and happy, I’m going to start re-introducing live plants into it.

Getting thru a cycle the old fashioned way was a great learning experience for me. But next time I’m either going with fishless or with Bio-Spira!

 

[rbdoherty]

Hi Newlywed,
When cylcing I tend to use danios (zebra or giant). They are fun species to watch and more importantly I have never had one die on me, although before adding them I still wait about a week.