Adding Plants During Cycle?

[Sage]

Hello everyone! I have a question I was hoping I could get some guidance with. I am currently planning on setting up a 20 gallon planted tank. At the moment I have all of the supplies and equipment I would need to get my tank set up and begin cycling it. My question is: is it alright to begin fishless-cycling a tank and then adding in plants / decorations gradually to it over time, or should I wait until I have all the plants and decorations before even starting?

The reason I ask is because I live in the Midwest and while there are a few LFS around, none of them really carry much in the way of live plants. That leaves ordering online - which I am more than happy to do - but I would want to wait for a bit of a break in the near-0 degree weather before trying to get anything live shipped. Also there are a couple plants I am looking at that may be out-of-stock at the moment so I might not be able to get a full order of everything I want even when the weather gets better.

Like I said I have all the basics needed to get my tank cycle started, it is just that I am new to all this and am unsure if adding in plants (and maybe some rocks that I haven't received yet) during or after the cycle would cause any problems / make things harder.

Thanks for any responses!

 

[junglefowl]

I think there is no problem to put plants and decoration during cycling your tank...as long as you finish putting them in before adding your fish

 

[phishfriend]

Yup, they can go in right away! If you heavily plant the tank it will even speed cycle. The only thing you cant do in a planted fishless cycle is crank the heat past 82f because of the plants.

 

[Sage]

Thanks to both of you for the info!

 

[Rivercats]

You can either add plants gradually or all at once in a planted tank. Adding them all at once helps the tank cycle faster but I too live in the midwest and won't order plants either till spring.

 

[phishfriend]

Sigh, I know rivercats I have this huge hole in the back of the tank waiting for some of your clippings and another waiting for some golden nesaea.

 

[aqua_chem]

One thing to be weary of is if you have high light and ammonia present, as that can be a recipe for green water.

 

[Rivercats]

Sigh, I know rivercats I have this huge hole in the back of the tank waiting for some of your clippings and another waiting for some golden nesaea.

I did some rearranging and have a couple area's that have holes too! I am trying to figure out some type of interesting plant that i've never tried. So I'm wanting spring too! You know my nesaea is the slowest growing of all my stem plants. It gets great color but is just so slow to get any height on it!