I am considering dark cycling my new aquarium as I have some Tropica aqua soil due for delivery today or tomorrow but I am going to be away a lot over the next few weeks for work so cannot do regular water changes. Unfortunately, I also ordered plants at the same time! Some of these I can put into a bucket outside as it is warm, but I expect I may lose some, but that is fine. There are some in-vitro plants which may last the duration but I could also lose these. But I have ordered a couple of pots of java moss and java fern, both of which I know are tough as old boots. I wondered if it might be worth attaching these to the hardscape anyway while it is cycling. There is some ambient light in the tank, but I still haven't bought a light yet. I could put these outside in the bucket as I am sure they'd survive fine, but I would need to disturb the hardscape by removing it at a later date to attach them. My scape is not going to be easy to attach moss to, particularly, while in the aquarium.