Caliban07
Aquarium Advice Addict
The point about plants taking up ammonia quicker than the denitrifying bacteria doesnt ring true to me. I'm sceptical.
Ive done fishless cycles where ive dosed ammonia to decent levels, say 2ppm. I get to a point during the process where i can dose, go off and do something for 20 minutes, come back and test the water, and the ammonia has cycled out to nitrite. Essentially, even at high ammonia levels, the filter is consuming all the ammonia going through it and expelling water clear of ammonia. I just dont see plants being able to compete for ammonia as quickly as an established filter. Filters pull water through them really quickly, but maybe its a result of my over filtration and in a more normally filtered tank you wouldnt see such rapid consumption of ammonia.
Interesting, I suppose on the flip side of that, the purpose of a fishless cycle is to build up a biological filter and cycle out ammonia. What happens when your loading is reduced to that of a regular fish stock? How long does it take for any one system to generate 2ppm ammonia?
As you say, what happens if you don’t have a filter that pulls water through through media or has a very low flow rate?
What happens in a planted tank that has plants growing in the majority of open space.
It’s good to be skeptical but there are so many variables.