Can I cycle a new tank just using plants?

[MacD]

Hi everyone,
Here's my question. I'm in the process of setting up a new 29 gallon tank and I've had only plants in for about 2 weeks now. I just did my first water test and I ended up with a pH of 7.4, 0.6 of ammonia and 1.6 of nitrites. My question is this: if I'm getting a nitrite reading based solely on the (small) amount of decomposition from the plants, do I still have to add the drops of pure ammonia to do a fishless cycle, or can the plants create the nitrite spike on their own (as they seem to have started doing)?
Any thoughts/answers would be much appreciated.

[Corydora_FREAK]

well the decomposing plants will supply ammonia but VERY slowly and in small amounts, i would still use the pure ammonia in smaller amounts to compensate for the plants decomposition.

[shade2dope]

I would add a liltle bit of the drops too just so you can get the nitrate up there so you can get the tank running soon

[JustOneMore20]

How many plants are in the tank? Is it lightly, moderately, heavily planted? If you have a fair number of plants in the tank, I'd add some fish instead of ammonia. Its called a "silent" cycle in which you start with alot of plants and stock slowly. I've cycled a 55g tank this way before and didn't ever have an ammonia or nitrite reading. The key is to use fast growing plants though.

I suggest doing a water change though before you add any fish and get the ammonia and nitrite readings down to a minimum (or better, 0).

What fish are you planning to stock the tank with?

[MacD]

I guess the tank would be considered to be moderately planted? (3 java fern, 2 hygro-something? and 2 bushy plants that sort of look like parsley a bit?). As for fish, I'm still deciding, lately I've been thinking of maybe having it as a dwarf puffer tank. Thanks for the info. on "silent cycling", by the way, I've never heard of it before.

[MacD]

Better than me trying to describe it to you, why don't I just post a pic. So here it is: (btw, my tank looks super-planted, but some of that is just a background picture)

[MacD]

Anyone know why my pic ended up microscopic? How do I make it normal-sized?

[JustOneMore20]

You could try hosting the picture in something like http://www.photobucket.com. It lets you change the size of the picture when you upload it. Then you just post the IMG tag into a post.

Well...if you thinking about DPs then I'd just go ahead and add some ammonia to the tank. I wouldn't add much though, just enough to move the cycle through but not enough to send the levels sky high. DPs are pretty sensitive, so I wouldn't chance them in any type of cycle (even if the silent type is safe for other fish).

[Eraserhead]

Careful with the puffers- you really don't want to have any tank cycling going on with them in there. They are extremely sensitive to ammonia. Where a cichlid can survive in water with a rather elevated ammonia level for a bit, puffers can start to die off if the ammonia even gets above 0.25ppm. I made this mistake and lost a few of them a good while ago.

[Damon]

Your tank is lightly planted. Do not use fish.

[lohachata]

for the life of me i just cannot understand why anybody would want to put pure amonia in an aquarium to cycle it.folks be acting like it is the only way to do it..did you ever think of putting fish in the tank to cycle it instead?
i may not be a wizard like the rest of the folks around here;but in 35 years in this hobby i have never used anything but fish to cycle a tank..
i must be really stupid;because i just don't get it..

[emc7]

Would you move into a new house before the air conditioning, heating, and the plumbing were working? Yes, you can cycle with fish, but why put them through that ordeal when a little patience and ammonia will give them perfect conditions later. Many people who give up on fish keeping do so because they kill their first fish with ammonia and the surviving fish get disease from the stress. Fishless cycling gives newbies an education in water quality management and gives them time to fine-tune their stocking before they ever buy fish. On this board, we strive to give the best advice we can and I believe that fishless cycling is best for fish, so why recommend anything else?

If you've had fish for 35 years, its probably been a really long time since you had a truly new tank. Moving filters and gravel from tank to tank like I do is cheating and doesn't count as a new tank cycle.

[Damon]

Well said.

[lohachata]

i can't even begin to count how many "brand new" setups i have done .have been in and out of it a couple of times so i had to start all over.
little by little i am phasing out of the hobby.it seems that the longer i am in it,the less i know about it.just too hard to keep up with all of the new technology and name changing.i have a yard full of tank and equipment that i just don't have anymore room for in my basement.only room for about 60 or so tanks down there,but they should be gone by this time next year.gonna be lots of plecos and stuff swimmin around in lake erie...lol..it will be in all the newspapers.."prehistoric fish caught in lake erie..."
thanks for the education guys.i shall never criticize anyone for chemical fishkeeping again.