# If get a tank 3/4 full of live plants...



## FishY_FishY (Nov 22, 2005)

How often do I have to change water? or no need?
Is it ok to be just plants without fish?

Cycle by just plants? How would it work?

Thanks for replying...


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

You cannot cycle with just plants. You still need a source of ammonia. Adding fish to a heavily stocked tank will work (just don't overstock. Add a few at a time). As far as waterchanges go, it depends on the setup. Low tech, low light tanks require very few waterchanges and ferts. High tech tanks require much more in the way of maintanence.


----------



## FishY_FishY (Nov 22, 2005)

Add the minnows or neon (both small fish)???
What does low tech mean?
What if I add ammonia in instead of fish?
Where can I buy ammonia? is the ammonia testing kit ok?

hmm... adding fish probably is better than adding ammonia but I want the tank to be fishless...


----------



## ron v (Feb 24, 2005)

I'm having a little trouble understanding what you want??? Are you planning a tank with no fish? If so, you don't need to worry about cycling.


----------



## FishY_FishY (Nov 22, 2005)

I want to get a tank with all plants but cycle with no fish...


----------



## Guest (Nov 26, 2005)

are u putting fish in the tank? if u dont plan on keeping fish in the tank then i don't think it is really necessary to cycle.


----------



## TheOldSalt (Jan 28, 2005)

Yeah.
If this is to be a plant-only tank, then don't worry about cycling, since that's for fish. Your plants _replace_ the bacteria in a way, eating up the nitrogenous wastes that the bacteria would have used. of course, with no fish in the tank at all, there won't be any nitrogenous "food" for the plants in the way of ammonia & nitrate.
In that case you'll have to feed the plants with plant food & good lighting instead, but you need not worry about cycling. The tank will cycle a teeny bit anyway, but only to such a low level that all it will accomplish is establishing a starter supply of bacteria, which might be handy if you add a small fish someday. You don't have to do anything to make it happen.


----------



## FishY_FishY (Nov 22, 2005)

Ok... 

What kind of fish can I buy? is minnow or neon tetra ok? (I want small fish)

If I got this plant tank with fish, after it's cycle... can I add the water n fish to another tank which was not cycle? If yes, would the other tank be cycle too?


----------



## goodie (Sep 2, 2005)

> What kind of fish can I buy? is minnow or neon tetra ok? (I want small fish)


 Those are good.



> If I got this plant tank with fish, after it's cycle... can I add the water n fish to another tank which was not cycle? If yes, would the other tank be cycle too?


 It would not be cycled. All you would be doing is transferring old water and not bacteria. You could put your bio media from your filter your using now into the new filter to "seed" it with bacteria. Or you can also take some gravel from your first tank put it in a mesh bag and hang it in the new tank to help establish bacteria in it.


----------



## FishY_FishY (Nov 22, 2005)

Ok thanks all for replying...

I'm gonna go to petstore and see if they have anacharis n hornwort... these r easy n don't need substrate haha...

How to make sure that those plants from the store contain no bad bateria n creepy worm...?

I'm gonna raise them n feed fish n turtle... so I want them to be 100% out of bateria...


----------



## Fishboy93 (Jun 11, 2005)

Rinse the plants off trust me once i got lazy and didnt nad now i have ich......


----------



## Damon (Jan 18, 2005)

Odds are the ich didn't come from the plants. Could have come from the water but not the plants.


----------

