upgrading to a 26 gal tank, prep for plants?

[sleepylof]

Hi Everyone,

I have an established 10 gal. aquarium with floating hornwort, an Amazon Sword, and another rosette plant. While they have been doing fine (except yellowing-corrected with an iron test kit; I was overdosing on the iron). I'm planning on upgrading my tank to a 26 gallon one and purchasing more plants. Do you have any tips on how I should prep the new aquarium for new plants? Thanks.

...Also, must I cycle the aquarium before I put the plants in?

 

[azn dreamer]

No you don't need to cycle the tank before the plants are put in. Plants remove nitrite and ammonia so it speeds up the cycle...just one thing...there has to be enough lighting or the plants would rot and increase ammonia

 

[Guest]

OK, sleepy, outline your goals/plans for the tank.

Substrate?
Lighting?
Co2?
Type of fish?

these all need to be taken into consideration if you want to have a good plant tank from the start.

Be glad to answer any questions you have.

No you don't need to cycle the tank before the plants are put in. Plants remove nitrite and ammonia so it speeds up the cycle

not quite true, it doesn't speed the cycle, rather it slows it! However, the results are much the same. the plants remove the bad nitro products, and fish get throught the cycle fine. cycling with plants, you will frequently not even get results on your test kits for nitro elemtents, this is called the "Silent Cycle". you still need to add fish slowly, make sure the plants are growing well, or your tank can crash just like an unplanted tank. If you use this method, it is best to plant heavily with fast growing bunch/stem plants, to keep up with nitro products and avoid (as much as possible) algae outbreaks.