OK, have Tank, Ammonia, and Plants...

[*Sarah*]

Tank is full, gravel is in, filter and heater are running...NOW WHAT??? lol. Do I put the plants in, then ammonia, or ammonia then plants. It's a 10 gal, so about 3 or so drops of ammonia?

[f1oored]

If they are live plants and you already have them you might as well add them now. There is a little debate on wether to add live plants before or after the cycle is complete but if you already have them you might as well add.

3 drops is a good place to start. Add them and then after about an hour check your ammonia level. You should be at about 5ppm. If you aren't add more but keep track of what you add. However many drops you end up adding, add that many each day until you get a nitrite spike.

[sergo]

yea you can put the plants in if you want. as far as ammonia goes i'll shoot a pm of a file i was sent about fishless cycling. i was doing 11-12 drops twice a day until i started to see a rise in nitrites then backed it down to half of the amount.

[f1oored]

Ammonia concentrations are different in each product so just add enough to get your tank to 5ppm. BTW good choice on the fishless cycle.

[*Sarah*]

Thanks guys, this forum really is the best :) The plants are in, and hopefully they'll be alright. If not..then I guess it's a lesson learned. I'll be testing the water in a minute to see where the ammonia is at. The product I got is Old Country, and it says it has NO phosphates or fragrances, and no foaming, so should be good to go. In case anyone in Ontario wonders, I got it at Home Hardware. I'm gonna look up on the net for the plants I got, but the guy at the LFS said that these are growing really well in their tanks, and they didn't have any super duper lighting or anything.

[sergo]

the plants will be fine don't worry about them. they will convert a little bit of the ammonia into energy for themselves.

[*Sarah*]

Added 1 more drop of ammonia, so that's 4 drops, should be perfect. Now we'll see how it goes :) I'm going to use this tank for a Guppy breeding tank. I'm going to get a Silky male guppy and 3 females, and see where I go from there. I can't wait :)

[sergo]

probably will be about a week and a half before it's done. are you using (seeding) anything from an established tank? ie rocks, sand, plants. if so that may speed you up a little.

[*Sarah*]

No, I haven't put anything in from our other tank. I should I guess. I was thinking about gravel, but I couldn't think of what to use to float it...then I remembered I can use pantyhose :) So, I think Im gonna do that. Thanks for the reminder :)

[*Sarah*]

I think the plants I have are:

Giant Bacopa (very tall plant)
Anubias Afzelii (larger leaves)
and I THINK, though definitely not sure..Cardinal Plant? (small foreground)
and the LFS guy seems to have accidently thrown in a bit of Java Moss(yay)
IF I'm wrong about any of these, please correct me.


Here's some pics..sorry, the tank is still a bit cloudy from me rummaging around in there. The first pic is my NEW Weather (Dojo) Loach I got today :) He's hiding in some fake plants. THEY ARE CLICKABLE THUMBNAILS :)

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