New tank

[Stan Z]

I'm starting a new tank and I want ton refresh my memory. I'm on the fourth day of adding Stability for bacteria. How soon should I start adding live plants.

[maspohno]

Hey Stan! 

I would definitely add plants as soon as you can! I found that adding plants on day 1 helps cycle much faster and gives me the peace of mind when adding a light bio-load in the beginning. 

The key is to add a light bio load (snails, small fish, etc). Reason being is that the added bacteria to the tank need ammonia to feed on during the cycling process. Adding a small bioload will allow for the bottled bacteria to feed on ammonia from the waste produced by the snails and fish. Keep in mind to keep the feeding very light (once a day small amount) if you do go this route. 

Plants will have SOME beneficial bacteria on the surface of the leaves which will help jump start the current cycle you're in. Overall, just make sure to keep an eye are on your ammonia levels as well as nitrites during the process if you choose to add fish (toxic in high amounts). Good luck!

[Whitecloud09]

You could wait or add live plants anytime you like. I personally like to add them when i set up my tank. They can have many benefits for you aquarium. Helps the cycle as well. Do you have any fish in there? Are you doing the fishLESS cycle or fishin? What size is your aquarium? Hope this helps!

On 7/18/2024 at 9:14 AM, maspohno said:

Hey Stan! 

I would definitely add plants as soon as you can! I found that adding plants on day 1 helps cycle much faster and gives me the peace of mind when adding a light bio-load in the beginning. 

The key is to add a light bio load (snails, small fish, etc). Reason being is that the added bacteria to the tank need ammonia to feed on during the cycling process. Adding a small bioload will allow for the bottled bacteria to feed on ammonia from the waste produced by the snails and fish. Keep in mind to keep the feeding very light (once a day small amount) if you do go this route. 

Plants will have SOME beneficial bacteria on the surface of the leaves which will help jump start the current cycle you're in. Overall, just make sure to keep an eye are on your ammonia levels as well as nitrites during the process if you choose to add fish (toxic in high amounts). Good luck!

Yes i totally agree here with @maspohno! Ammonia needs to be added to boost your cycle. Adding some small fish shrimp snails or something like that can help with this, or a bottled ammonia for tanks.

[lefty o]

live plants go in on day 1 if you have them. put them in now if you have them.

[Stan Z]

@Whitecloud09 no fish yet. I'll order some plants today. I read once that adding a little fish food helps start ammonia. Do you recommend that?

[MarcoPolo]

On 7/18/2024 at 2:36 PM, Stan Z said:

@Whitecloud09 no fish yet. I'll order some plants today. I read once that adding a little fish food helps start ammonia. Do you recommend that?

When I started my first tank, my local fish shop recommended adding two small fish after one week and checking the water parameters every day. That's what I did, and it worked well for me. I didn't experience any ammonia spikes. I also performed regular water changes of approximately 30% every 5-7 days. I guess it all depends on the size of the tank as well.

Edit:

I also heavily planted the tank on the first day so I guess it helped to suck stuff from the water. Probably some beneficial bacteria were transplanted to the substrate from the plants.

Edited July 18 by MarcoPolo
extra notes

[Whitecloud09]

On 7/18/2024 at 9:36 AM, Stan Z said:

@Whitecloud09 no fish yet. I'll order some plants today. I read once that adding a little fish food helps start ammonia. Do you recommend that?

Yes that can work! I like bottled ammonia, so you know how much you are dosing, too. Like dr tims ammonium chloride. But fish food will be good.

[mynameisnobody]

I would add plants on Day 1, I’d also stay away from bacteria in a bottle. If you’re going to add snails or small fish, then skip the ammonia bottle as well. These just help complicate things. 

[Whitecloud09]

On 7/18/2024 at 11:33 AM, mynameisnobody said:

I would add plants on Day 1, I’d also stay away from bacteria in a bottle. If you’re going to add snails or small fish, then skip the ammonia bottle as well. These just help complicate things. 

Yes I forgot to mention that if you add a little amount of fish, don’t add ammonia, definitely not recommended. So here is what I would do. Add ammonia by fish food, add a couple fish, check paremeters daily, if ph drops low under 6 ppm, do a wc.

[CoryWithAKatana]

Live plants as said should be added asap, many plants already have their own free beneficial bacteria that comes with them. Win-win! As for adding fish food to start the cycle I would but not too much. Too much fish food can lead to a bacteria bloom or algae bloom (not good!) a small amount of fish food will decompose and produce ammonia, the bacteria will turn the ammonia into Nitrites (which in large amounts is very bad) the bacteria will eventually turn the harmful nitrites to Nitrates which are harmless in smaller amounts (<20 ppm) Make sure to do regular water changes and check water quality with Test Strips. If you don't want to hassle with root tabs I would recommend  stem plants like Java Ferns or Anubias. They like to be attached to rocks or driftwood. In my opinion, I have had great success with Dwarf Aquarium Lillies, it is a reddish lily pad plant that roots in the substrate but they get nutrients from the water column. 

[EricksonAquatics]

I agree with what’s been said that adding live plants from the beginning is the way to go! However in my experience adding fish food as a source of ammonia is a very tedious process. I found that I had to add a ridiculous amount of fish food to even be able to measure ammonia. 
Do you have a local fish club or local fish store that can give you some filter media from an established tank? That is definitely the quickest and easiest way to start a cycle. If not, I would opt for bottled ammonia versus fish food.

With the cycled filter media, you boost the tank with tons of beneficial bacteria which makes it easier to add a couple fish right away. Then you can just feed lightly and keep testing water, and doing water changes whenever you see fit. 🙂

[Stan Z]

What I've done in the past after the plants are in, I let the tank cycle for a couple months before I add fish. Everything is nice and comfortable then.