Grayum

Hey, I am sure this has been addressed in the past, but I am looking for some clarification in regards to a NPTs cycle.

I set up my new tank, 4x2x2, and initially added quite a few plants, trying have a least one rooted plant every six inches. I also added apple snails, 3 very small ones, that survived very well. I tested this tank one week later, and had no readings at all. I threw out those tests assuming they were too old, and bought all new ones. They all read O for everything excpet kh which was about 4.5 (shows the lime i added to the soil was working as water here is 0dkh). I added the rummy noses from my other tank to try and add a little waste, and after 2 days there was still NOTHING. At this point, I added 2 medium discus to the tank and they are doing WONDERFUL. The blue diamond has come back to has natural color, and is very very active.

Has anyone experienced this? I am very scared the ammonia will suddenly spike and kill basically everything in this tank. I do not have experience with a soil substrate, and any input would be greatly appricated. I am holding off moving my plecos until I sort this out.

newbie314

Funny isn't.
It's almost unbelievable.

My personal experience is that after 5-7 days of a Betta in my son's 2 gallon tank the ammonia would start to rise with a regular filter or no filter (and no plants).

With the plants, no ammonia. It's almost too good to be true.
Nothing, Nada,
This is with just plants and no filter/circulation.

It makes you wonder why we tortured fish in the past with the whole cycling thing.
Seems totally unnecessary with plants.

Why don't books just recommend a whole bunch of plants and filters (if the nitrification takes up then hey no sweat, bigger load you can put in your tank).

Grayum

they actually did, before there was a giant industry built around technology and cramming as many fish as possible in to one tank. Thats what I think at least. I have a booking from 1920 that says to plant plants, keep in window for heat in light, and use soil.

DataGuru

Some soils are instantly cycled. Some take a while to get used to being submerged and may actually produce ammonia and nitrIte.

Muirner

keep it densly planted, if it hasnt spiked it's likely your plant load is enough to do the filtration. Just MAKE SURE, you dont let the plant load drop off. Or you may see spikes. That's just my .02

dwalstad

Healthy plants immediately take up ammonia nitrogen. Unless your soil is over-fertilized or the plant mass is poor, there's no need to cycle an NPT tank.

I have never had an ammonia problem in my planted tanks. Nitrite problems a couple times, but never ammonia.....

In tanks I've set up without plants, ammonia became a problem within 24 hours. I would truly hate to raise fish without plants!

littleguy

Just to throw some more wood on the fire, I have a 10 gallon quarantine tank that has nothing but lights, a very thin layer of gravel to trap sinking debris (a few mm), and about 5 or 6 plants, still in their pots with rockwool. It doesn't even have a heater, powerhead, or filter (temp stays around 73 F). I have never measured ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate, and ph is stable, even after two months with a few dwarf platies, a few amano shrimp, a bunch of cherry shrimp, and lots of snails. Never came close to achieving that with a plant-less tank.

Plants are amazing water purifiers. Believe it.