Hello!
I am currently finalizing buying the equipment to set up a 120x50x50 cm (~270L) aquarium with CO2 injection and strong lighting. My goal is to build an aquascape with a significant amount of hardscape and a large number of plants, including carpeting plants. I plan to hold a medium load of livestock consisting of small schooling fish along with shrimp and snails. Most of the plants I will use are in-vitro, so they will take some time to establish. I also plan to add a few fast growing potted "helper" plants to the initial setup, but these will be either removed or heavily trimmed down later on. By the way, I am not new to this hobby but returning after a long pause. However, I have never kept an heavily planted "high tech" aquarium before. I have spent the last months reading, checking forums and viewing videos on how to build such aquariums, but I mostly found radically contradictory opinions on how to cycle and set planted aquariums. I have read many extremely informative posts on this forum and elsewhere, but I still have questions on how to properly set up a planted aquarium. I tried to summarize below two possible approaches to cycle a new planted aquarium.
Option 1: Fishless cycle, followed by adding plants and livestock
I have not found a clear discussion on how to use this approach with aquariums that will be heavily planted. My goal is to complete the fishless cycle and then add all the plants and around half of the taget livestock (shrimps + ~20 small schooling fish) after the cycle is complete. My concern is that the system can become unbalanced because of the rapid switch to a set up featuring dozens of plants, invertebrates, fish, lights, fertilization and CO2 injection. Has anyone practical experience of using the fishless cycle this way?
Option 2: Cycle with plants
Is there any advantage of using this method instead of Option 1? Option 1, seems to be more resilient because of the stable bacteria colonies that are available. However, a majority of aquascapers in this forum and elsewhere seem to be using option 2 instead of option 1. The only apparent advantage of this option is that the aquarium will be planted from day 1, but then it can take a long time to slowly add the livestock. Has this option actually any benefit when compared to option 1 when it comes to the long-term stability of the system? Any reason not to use option 1?
Many thanks for your input on this subject!
Cheers!
Artur
I am currently finalizing buying the equipment to set up a 120x50x50 cm (~270L) aquarium with CO2 injection and strong lighting. My goal is to build an aquascape with a significant amount of hardscape and a large number of plants, including carpeting plants. I plan to hold a medium load of livestock consisting of small schooling fish along with shrimp and snails. Most of the plants I will use are in-vitro, so they will take some time to establish. I also plan to add a few fast growing potted "helper" plants to the initial setup, but these will be either removed or heavily trimmed down later on. By the way, I am not new to this hobby but returning after a long pause. However, I have never kept an heavily planted "high tech" aquarium before. I have spent the last months reading, checking forums and viewing videos on how to build such aquariums, but I mostly found radically contradictory opinions on how to cycle and set planted aquariums. I have read many extremely informative posts on this forum and elsewhere, but I still have questions on how to properly set up a planted aquarium. I tried to summarize below two possible approaches to cycle a new planted aquarium.
Option 1: Fishless cycle, followed by adding plants and livestock
- The AQ is set up with the hardscape only. No plants or livestock.
- The initial cycle is done using the "classic" fishless process: the AQ is heated, filtered and aerated. No CO2 or lighting is used. The cycle is bootstrapped using ammonia and the bacteria will mainly colonize the media in the external filters. The colonies should start stabilizing some 6-8 weeks after the set up. Note: I have no access to used filter media or other source of bacteria; the cycling process will start from zero.
- After the nitrogen cycle is stable, plants and a moderate amount of livestock are added at once because the bacteria are theoretically able to handle the biological load.
- Regular partial water changes are performed after plants and livestock are added (e.g. 50% daily for the first week, then 50% every 2-3 days for 3-4 weeks, and then 50% weekly).
I have not found a clear discussion on how to use this approach with aquariums that will be heavily planted. My goal is to complete the fishless cycle and then add all the plants and around half of the taget livestock (shrimps + ~20 small schooling fish) after the cycle is complete. My concern is that the system can become unbalanced because of the rapid switch to a set up featuring dozens of plants, invertebrates, fish, lights, fertilization and CO2 injection. Has anyone practical experience of using the fishless cycle this way?
Option 2: Cycle with plants
- The AQ is set up with hardscape and with plants (most plants will be in vitro + a few potted fast growing plants).
- CO2 injection, fertilizers, lighting are used from day 1. No ammonia is added.
- Several weeks later invertebrates are added if ammonia and nitrite levels are zero.
- Several weeks later fish are slowly and gradually added to the system.
- Regular partial water changes from day 1 (e.g. 50% daily for the first week, then 50% every 2-3 days for 3-4 weeks, and then 50% weekly).
Is there any advantage of using this method instead of Option 1? Option 1, seems to be more resilient because of the stable bacteria colonies that are available. However, a majority of aquascapers in this forum and elsewhere seem to be using option 2 instead of option 1. The only apparent advantage of this option is that the aquarium will be planted from day 1, but then it can take a long time to slowly add the livestock. Has this option actually any benefit when compared to option 1 when it comes to the long-term stability of the system? Any reason not to use option 1?
Many thanks for your input on this subject!
Cheers!
Artur