How do I know if my planted tank is cycled?

[grimms]

I have a 10 gallon planted tank, and it’s been running for about 3 weeks now. 

I tested again today, and my water parameters seem mostly okay?

My Nitrate level was 5.0ppm. The only thing is that my pH seems to be a ..high? Anytime I’ve tested it it always reads 7.6. Even in my smaller non-planted betta tank pH is 7.6. 

My plan is to only have a betta in the 10 gallon planted tank. But I’m just wondering how will I know when this planted tank is done cycling? Can I put my betta in now? Should I wait till plants are more settled in? 

[Dancing Matt]

Cycling has to do with the nitrate cycle where ammonia (fish naturally produce ammonia) is converted into nitrites then nitrates by the bacteria in the tank. Best way to be confident is test and if you don't have any ammonia or nitrites but do have nitrates, you are likely cycled. After three weeks it is likely ready, especially with live plants.

Are you dosing fertilizers?

[grimms]

On 2/24/2022 at 4:38 PM, Dancing Matt said:

Cycling has to do with the nitrate cycle where ammonia (fish naturally produce ammonia) is converted into nitrites then nitrates by the bacteria in the tank. Best way to be confident is test and if you don't have any ammonia or nitrites but do have nitrates, you are likely cycled. After three weeks it is likely ready, especially with live plants.

Are you dosing fertilizers?

No fertilizers. The substrate is aquasoil (Caribsea). Do I need to use fertilizers now? Or root tabs?

[Jennifer V]

I just watched quite a few videos from ACO and @Irene about cycling a tank using live plants. I can't find the specific one I watched from Cory but here is Irene's. 

Basically, you know the tank is cycled when the plants are growing and you have algae present. It's better to watch the tank rather than water parameters because you may not see ammonia because the plants are consuming it.

You can add liquid fertilizer and root tabs now. Just keep in mind that it'll add nitrates to your tank. A tip with root tabs is to stick a pin in the root tab to release the air and then add it. That'll keep it from floating up out of the substrate.

I think the testing becomes imperative once you add your Betta to make sure you don't have any ammonia or nitrite and your nitrates stay down under 40 ppm. As far as pH, I'm not familiar with what Bettas need, but I think as long as it's stable, it's not a problem. 

I had great results cycling both my tanks with plants only and no added ammonia. I packed as many plants as I could in both tanks. You have plenty of room in your 10g to add more plants like anubias or Java fern you can attach to your driftwood and rocks so something to think about. The more plants, the more ability the tank has to absorb anything harmful to the fish, like ammonia. 

Once the algae was present in my tanks, I added snails to help with that before I added the fish. I waited another month before I added my fish and all has been well. In total, it took about 8 weeks. I may have been a tad conservative but better to be patient and safe than adding too quickly. 

[Patrick_G]

I like the “cycling with plants” method that Cory and Irene recommend. 
 

My thoughts: The key is to gradually add a few fish and make sure ammonia and nitrites are zero. They don’t specifically say this but the more plants the better and fast growers like floating plants and stem plants are some of the best at using up ammonia. 
 

Here’s the quote from the blog: 

Once the plants (or algae) show new growth, the cycle is complete. Your plants are successfully consuming ammonia and nitrates and converting them into new leaves and roots. Gradually add a few fish, feed them sparingly, and use the water test kit to ensure that ammonia and nitrites are at 0 ppm and nitrates are below 40 ppm.

https://www.aquariumcoop.com/blogs/aquarium/fish-tank-cycling?_pos=3&_sid=dc98ca98d&_ss=r

@grimms, your Eco Complete isn’t what most aquascapers think of as aquasoil. It’s a lava rock material that really good at holding on to nutrients so that plants can use them but it’s not actually enriched. I would use a comprehensive fertilizer like Easy Green to feed the plants that like fertilizer in the water column and to “charge” your eco complete for the root feeding plants. 

Edited February 24, 2022 by Patrick_G

[HH Morant]

If by cycling a tank you mean developing beneficial bacteria, I think the key here is to understand that you are actually deciding not to cycle before you add fish. 

At the beginning of the video, Irene says that beneficial bacteria is not the only form of biological filtration. She is deciding to use another kind instead - plants. If the plants consume most of the ammonia and nitrites created by the fish, there is not much left over for beneficial bacteria to consume, so very little beneficial bacteria will develop, and it will be slow. 

 I think it would be more accurate to describe this as fish-in cycling with plants. Any beneficial bacteria that develops has to develop with fish in the tank.

The key is very light stocking, and very light feeding. The tank is going to be very susceptible to spikes because it does not have a strong colony of beneficial bacteria. Indeed, it has no beneficial bacteria at all when the fish are added.

And guess what? Most people don't like very light stocking and aren't inclined to feed lightly.

If more ammonia/nitrite is generated than the plants can consume, then beneficial bacteria will grow faster. But for the sake of the fish, it has to be only a little bit more, because the fish have to live in the water with the excess ammonia/nitrite until the beneficial bacteria develops. That is fish-in cycling.

I think this method would take more patience - the patience to start with light stocking and add fish very slowly - than most people have and it would take much longer to develop the beneficial bacteria needed for a mature and stable tank.

But with one betta in a 10-gallon tank, it probably works.

 

Edited February 24, 2022 by HH Morant

[Dancing Matt]

On 2/24/2022 at 2:48 PM, grimms said:

No fertilizers. The substrate is aquasoil (Caribsea). Do I need to use fertilizers now? Or root tabs?

Not necessarily, It just helps piece the puzzle together. 5ppm nitrates with no dosing of ferts indicates the tank is doing it's job.