# Planted tanks and Cycling



## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

Is what this guy saying a good idea ? 

http://www.csd.net/~cgadd/aqua/art_plant_newtank.htm

Really quite terrified of this whole cycling business to be honest


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## Guest (Sep 19, 2008)

That is what people refer to as a silent cycle. I've done it before....packed the tank full of plants, added fish slowly, and never registered any ammonia or nitrite (meaning the fish weren't harmed at all).

If you want a heavily planted tank, plan to have atleast medium light, and don't want to mess with the whole fishless cycling deal, this would be for you.


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## jamesandmanda (Sep 17, 2008)

Fantastic ! thanks alot  

We will definitely give this a go. Just haven't had much luck with cycling in the past and don't really fancy the dangerous chemical route.


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## Guest (Sep 20, 2008)

The trick is to have many types of stem plants (like Rotala species, Bacopa, Ludwigia, etc...).  They grow fast and take in ammonia, which is why it shouldn't register on the test kits (or hurt the fish).


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## Suess00 (Sep 5, 2008)

that sounds like a good idea. I will try it on my 20gallon next month


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## oblongshrimp (Sep 3, 2008)

It works pretty well. The key is lots of fast growing plants and increasing the bioload slowly. If you are using aquasoil then you don't want to add fish for the first few weeks as aquasoil leeches quite a bit of ammonia into the water for a while. If you can, try and use some old filter media from another tank (or a friends) to get things going quickly.


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