Jferrante
Aquarium Advice Activist
I'm trying to make sure my plants can establish themselves during this initial cycle and although I like the large airstone that crosses the center of my tank I'm not sure if it helps or hinders plant growth.
I have 20 lbs of Eco Complete and 40 lbs of natural gravel.
55g tank with 305 fluval canister filter.
My Plants are 1 Banana Plant, 1 Amazon Sword (that is placed so a beam of real sunlight during the day shines directly on it), 2 italian val plants, and one 1 short Anubias slightly offset from direct light.
I put 5 Rummy nose Tetra to produce a little ammonia to start the cycle while I add Stability by seachem everyday. I also Use seachems Prime and Tropical fish food. And of course once the cycle is done I will add Purigen as the only media along side 4 sections of biomax. I've got Stress--Enzyme too incase it gets bad but overall I will be closely watching it everyday. I've got the API Master kit too.
I know a lot of people do fish-less cycles but I figured 5 tetra with 5 plants would produce a very light ammonia spike that is easily manageable (especially since my biomax has been through many years with goldfish and koi before I converted . All I did was rinse with hot water for a minute and thats it so it might be light but with everything else i assume it should recover well) that would slowly grow stronger over time.
But anyways what are some good pointer to growing healthy hardy plants and will the airstone slow down or even possible ruin its establishment or will it not be that effective on the plants.
I have 20 lbs of Eco Complete and 40 lbs of natural gravel.
55g tank with 305 fluval canister filter.
My Plants are 1 Banana Plant, 1 Amazon Sword (that is placed so a beam of real sunlight during the day shines directly on it), 2 italian val plants, and one 1 short Anubias slightly offset from direct light.
I put 5 Rummy nose Tetra to produce a little ammonia to start the cycle while I add Stability by seachem everyday. I also Use seachems Prime and Tropical fish food. And of course once the cycle is done I will add Purigen as the only media along side 4 sections of biomax. I've got Stress--Enzyme too incase it gets bad but overall I will be closely watching it everyday. I've got the API Master kit too.
I know a lot of people do fish-less cycles but I figured 5 tetra with 5 plants would produce a very light ammonia spike that is easily manageable (especially since my biomax has been through many years with goldfish and koi before I converted . All I did was rinse with hot water for a minute and thats it so it might be light but with everything else i assume it should recover well) that would slowly grow stronger over time.
But anyways what are some good pointer to growing healthy hardy plants and will the airstone slow down or even possible ruin its establishment or will it not be that effective on the plants.