Cycling ADA AS

[Enjoy]

Hey gents,

so getting ready to do my first ADA AS tank.

Should I fill the tank with soil but NO plants or fish and let it cycle? Then at a later stage add hardscape and plants?

Or will it be safe to do hardscape and plants with the first fill and just do major water changes.
In this case I would imagine a very lean photo period would be best, to minimize algae takeover and minimal CO2 and ferts unitl I'm ready to kick it into gear?

Thanks!

 

[Noman]

IMO plant heavily from the start and do major water changes every 2-3 days. I wouldn't suggest minimal light period, instead you can do seista period. 2 hours on, 2 hours off and so on. Dosing of excel will help too.

 

[Martin in Holland]

+1 on the water changes, keep it up for at least 2-3 weeks. Plants need 4 hours light period minimum, 4 to 5 hour light will be enough for the first few weeks, many of us start with 5-6 hr and slowly extend this to 7-8.

 

[Rahms]

I wouldn't bother with a siesta period...

And definitely don't limit your CO2! Fishless tank is your time to get it dialed-in without killing any critters

 

[Enjoy]

Okay, so it seems many of you just scape, plant and cycle.
Fair enough. If my plants wont get melted then awesome.

Then there is the dialling in all the parameters which makes sense.
So you suggesting full co2 and ferts and just a very minimal photo period then?
Until the plants really kick in?
The last thing I need is an algae outbreak so I'm just avoiding this.

 

[Rahms]

algae is most going to crop up if you've not got enough ferts/CO2 to support the amount of light you have. So you get your ferts/CO2 as good as you can with a short photoperiod, and then slowly increase it (over weeks). If you get algae, it means your ferts/CO2 aren't up to the task so you bump it back down.

 

[Iain Sutherland]

as other have said, plant and fill.
Siesta's are ineffective so avoid them.
It is advised with all tanks, be it high tech, low tech, AS or just gravel to do 50% water changes every day for the first week, then every other day week 2, every 3 days week 3 then weekly by week 4. The more water changes the better!!!
week 4 you can add clean up crew... ottos and shrimp but you will need to supplement the ottos diet with courgette.
5 hours is a good starting point.
With AS i just dose micro ferts first week or two, AS leaches lots of macro nutrients so you dont need to add them, wont hurt if you do but just saves you money.
best of luck.

 

[Enjoy]

You folks are literally on fire here.
I feel like I can conquer the world.
Such effective advice!
Much appreciated!!!!