Aquascaping while cycling?

[quitters]

Hey there. Im planning on moving the stuff in my tank around dureing cycling a fair bit, like pushing gravel around, not major stuff just like burying new rocks and drift wood. How ok is it to do this? also turning over rocks and repositioning them with a new side facing up/down.

i ask because i hear good bacteria grows in the shade.

i have a fluval 204 with a full tray of biomax
28 gallon tank

 

[ringfinger]

Shouldn't cause any problem that a couple days of settling back down won't fix. You won't be hurting your bacteria population or anything. Now changing out your entire substrate would be a major change, but I wouldn't worry about what you're doing.

 

[7Enigma]

I would recommend against it until you are near the end of cycling. The concern would be trapping toxins below the surface level (ie ammonia or nitrIte in your case), and then at a later time either you or the fish stirring it up and causing problems with the water perameters and possibly hurting the fish. Another concern would be that by trapping these food sources below the surface your giving a great place for anaerobic bacteria to reproduce, which could cause even more problems.

And I've never heard of the good bacteria growing in the shade. They grow where ever they can attach to, and as long as they are not being bombarded by high levels of UV radiation (ie MORE than normal sunlight) they won't care at all, and would probably flourish even better.

justin

 

[quitters]

ok thanks dam but adding plants is fine even if its a fishless cycle? (using a single shrimp) will this make for a lesser bio-load-buffer-thing-a-majig?

 

[7Enigma]

ok thanks dam but adding plants is fine even if its a fishless cycle? (using a single shrimp) will this make for a lesser bio-load-buffer-thing-a-majig?

Adding plants increases your bioload. All bioload means is the amount of waste products your tank can consume. The higher bioload, the more fish you can stock (up to a point). This is a mixture of the bacteria in the tank, and any live plants as well.

Adding plants is fine. I wouldn't completely cover every inch with plants at the beginning, but a good amount will be fine. You have to remember that plants are actually "better" than the beneficial bacteria that we are trying to grow during the cycle. They absorb ammonia or nitrAte (the part that normally sits in the tank until a PWC), and do not use much oxygen, while they are putting some oxygen back INTO the tank.

Compare this to the bacteria, which cannot do anything with nitrAte which builds up in the tank, readily use oxygen, and can be killed much easier by accident (adding straight tap water with chlorine will kill the bacteria, but the plant won't mind for example, even low amounts of antibacterials will not outright kill the plant, but the fish might die). But remember also plants need more varied nutrients than do bacteria, and in the absence of light (say during a blackout period to get rid of algae), the plants will slow their ammonia uptake, while the bacteria will still be cranking along.

So ideally you would want a really heavily planted tank, and as some members on here have posted, you could possibly NEVER have a cycle, since the plants are directly using the ammonia. This way you have a safety mechanism in place if one or the other suddenly dies off because you will still have a good amount of beneficial bacteria (though not as much as a tank without plants).

I chose to wait until the cycle was completed before adding live plants, but if I had to do it over again, I would add the plants at the same time the cycle is starting. There will be enough free ammonia in the water for the bacteria to thrive, even in a well planted tank.

HTH

 

[quitters]

Awesome man thank you that was exactly what i was looking for u rock dam nice post!thank you! can i ask one more question. . . .

if i can only get one batch of gold tetras, as in i need to order them and dont want to order twice, and i want 11, and need to put them all in at once, would you advise adding them (after planting heavily and cycle is complete(29gallon)) and just watching for spikes and then doing water changes or is this overkill should i just order in 2 lots?

OR!

could i buy a medium couple of plecos, add them like a week apart, then quickly (but nicely of course) swap them for the tetras? is that a common method? any cons?

thanks

 

[7Enigma]

I wouldn't do the temporary pleco way.

IMO if you completely finish the fishless cycle (you'd be surprised how many people say they will be patient, only to add fish after the first week ) you will be fine adding the full 11 tetras. When I stocked my tank it had fully fishless cycled, and I added 6 barbs one day, next day levels were fine so added my 3 cory's and 3 Oto's, next day levels were fine so I added my final 7 cherry barbs. Never saw a spike at all.

That's the HUGE benefit of doing it fishless. You can build up WAY more bacteria than you actually need to support with your fishload, and so you don't have to worry about all the PWC's that people who do it the fish way run into.

One thing I would do, however, is to very lightly feed the first couple of days when you get the fish. Or you might want to feed them a normal amount the first day, and then nothing the second day, and 1/2 on the third day. What you are trying to do is for a day or two have the fish produce less waste so they appear to be smaller (less bioload in the tank), and that extra day or two for your bacteria to multiply if they aren't quite up to the level needed in the tank.

HTH

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Also, before planting the tank, read through the stickies. They will help a bunch. Some have planted their tanks, only to result in an algae problem due to nutrients being out of whak. Lots of good info in the stickies.

 

[quitters]

ok wicked thanks, but im cycling with just 1 shrimp?!?!?!?!

i dont get it does a rotting shrimp put out more ammonia than 11 gold tetras, and does it do it continually for up to 6 weeks????

 

[Lonewolfblue]

As it's rotting, it puts quite a bit of ammonia in the water, yes.

 

[quitters]

i love you.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

lol