Will Planting Now Mess up My Cycle?

[bungle]

My 55gal. is in the middle of its fishless cycle right now.

ammonia = 5-6ppm
nitrite = >5
nitrate = >5

this will ultimately be a planted tank. i was wondering if i planted now if it will alter my cycle? How about anything else i should be concerned with?

TIA!

 

[bungle]

anybody?.... anybody?

 

[vega]

With some solid fertilizer in the gravel n liquid fertiliser in water, with proper lighting, and if can with CO2 should be ok. Your cyle will not be effected.

 

[Keeper]

if anything you will be able to add fish sooner....depending on how many plants you put in. The reason I say this is because plants suck up ammonia(which is harmful to fish). It will take a little longer to get a nitrate reading(my personal experience). If you add a lot of plants all at once, I would reccomend adding quite a few fish as well. The cycle will be slower with plants and fish but will get done...also, make sure you monitor all you paramters on a regular basis and do the regular water changes.

I hope all this makes sense(always does in my head)

 

[bungle]

cool, thanks for the help, all.

if i wanted to complete the cycle fishless, would adding ammonia to the tank as i've been doing still work? or will the plants gobble up whatever amount i put in? and i'm guessing nitrites aren't affected? as i am already cycling, it should be no problem to continue testing my water everyday.

 

[vega]

Tank Fertilizer will enuf.

 

[bungle]

sorry, my brain is slow today. tank fertilizer will enuf what?

 

[Keeper]

how many plants are you planning on adding? Half a tank, full tank, few plants?

 

[bungle]

a whole tank full! i actually put them in last night. after looking a just water and a hunk of driftwood for two weeks, it was great to turn the lights on and see all the color.

 

[Keeper]

you are good to go ahead and add a large qty of fish if you would like. The plants will take care of the harmful ammonia and the fish will be happy!!

 

[bungle]

awesome! thanks for following this post and all your help, keeper

 

[Keeper]

No prob...my pleasure. It's nice to finally give back some of the information the people on this site have given me! If you have a camera you should post some pics of the new tank!

 

[bungle]

yup, i gotta work on that! i have a digi camera, but have never tried to post any pics, gotta figure that out. have to figure out what fish to get first, too!