# 10 Gallon cycling tank with new plants



## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Hey guys!!

So I for some reason decided to go crazy with plants -_- I have 3 female bettas and I wanted to make sure that I had enough hiding spaces and everything so that they could live peacefully.

ALSO My 10 gallon tank top has only one light bulb working. I just started using it to make sure that the plants would grow. I have no idea what watt it is but if anything I think I need another top for this.

I thought I had heard that plants are good for cycling a tank. Then after reading more and having all the plants I heard that it isn't good for some plants to be in a cycling tank. 

So any advice? I've always gotten betta bulbs and just grew them and haven't added or changed anything to the water and now of course I have a wide range of plants and i'm not sure if I should be fertilizing the water or if I'm ok to just let everything be. 

It has been about a week to a week and a half and I've been adding only pure ammonia. I added some yesterday and I just tested the water. Here are my readings 

Ammonia: around 4.0 ppm
Nitrite: between 0.25-.50 ppm

I won't add any more ammonia for now. I just cannot remember how long it takes to get the nitrite up to the right level and when the Nitrate will take effect (so any advice would be awesome!)

What I have:

Sponge Filter

I have 2 cilihid caves (spelling)

One piece of driftwood

Another smaller piece of drift wood

Betta bulb plants I grew in my cycled 5 gallon

Sword Tail

3 plants from petco

And a few others I'm not exactly sure of the names at the moment


Here are some pictures of the tank (not very good sorry! The 10 is behind my 5 and 2 2.5 gallon tanks):

























Here you can see my drift wood and two big caves









I need some advice on what to do with these plants AND again on how to cycle :/ I forgot how the levels are suppose to go! 

Thank you!


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## shellieca (Jul 12, 2012)

Well I can advise on some of your post. The plants should be fine & you'll see if any of them begin to have problems, however I am the type of person who plants whatever & sees what works & what doesn't. Now for the cycling, ammonia at 4 is good, nitrites will escalate as your ammonia begins to lower, nitrates will escalate as your nitrites reduce. Keep things as they are, on average it'll take a minimum of 2 wks for your to see any changes in the ammonia. Then you'll want to let it drop to 1 & then redose it back up to 3-4. Keep an eye on your Ph because if drops to the mid-low 6's you'll want to do a water to bring it back up. Have you tested your tap water to see what your starting levels are? If not you should. Hope this makes sense.


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## DefStatic (Mar 17, 2013)

What plants did you get? Some of the plants at Petco really are not aquatic plants.

You will need better light, I can tell you that right now.


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

DefStatic said:


> What plants did you get? Some of the plants at Petco really are not aquatic plants.
> 
> You will need better light, I can tell you that right now.


I checked the petco plants and they're all aquatic


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

DefStatic said:


> What plants did you get? Some of the plants at Petco really are not aquatic plants.
> 
> You will need better light, I can tell you that right now.





shellieca said:


> Well I can advise on some of your post. The plants should be fine & you'll see if any of them begin to have problems, however I am the type of person who plants whatever & sees what works & what doesn't. Now for the cycling, ammonia at 4 is good, nitrites will escalate as your ammonia begins to lower, nitrates will escalate as your nitrites reduce. Keep things as they are, on average it'll take a minimum of 2 wks for your to see any changes in the ammonia. Then you'll want to let it drop to 1 & then redose it back up to 3-4. Keep an eye on your Ph because if drops to the mid-low 6's you'll want to do a water to bring it back up. Have you tested your tap water to see what your starting levels are? If not you should. Hope this makes sense.



Yes that makes a lot of sense 😃 thank you!!


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

DefStatic said:


> What plants did you get? Some of the plants at Petco really are not aquatic plants.
> 
> You will need better light, I can tell you that right now.


And I'll need to go to some place to get a better top, only one side is actually working


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## Oldfishlady (Mar 1, 2010)

When you posted sword tails...is this a plant or a fish.....I would double check your plants-it is hard to tell by the pic-but some don't look aquatic-especially if they came in the tubes-a lot of them are not aquatic and will slowly rot, die and foul the water.
Can you give us the name of the plants

Depending on what your finial stocking plan is....if your plants are true aquatic and you have the proper color temp light bulbs that are under 1yr old-You can do the silent cycle, however, unless you have the right species of plants and correct lights to support plant growth-the system might be problematic in the long run.

Once you start seeing nitrite reading-you need to cut the amount of ammonia you add by half-when doing the fishless cycle.

Proper color temp light bulb-For 10gal tank-"Daylight" florescent 6500k 20w and depending on the plant species you might need 2 bulbs. You can usually find the correct florescent bulbs in the lighting dept at wal mart, lowes or home depot for a lot cheaper than at the fish shop. 

You also should get a new started for your hood anytime you change your florescent bulbs-they are cheap-just make sure you get the correct wattage-This might be why one side isn't working too-needs a new starter and new bulb.

Florescent bulbs color temp can be used up with use and they need to be changed at least every 12 months-we can still see the light but the color temp is changed and the plants can't see it for photosynthesis.

What are your baseline water prams on your source water-tested with and without your normal additives. For ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH.
What is the source water and additive used.

What is the nitrate and pH of the tank water and what kind of testing products are you using.


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Oldfishlady said:


> When you posted sword tails...is this a plant or a fish.....I would double check your plants-it is hard to tell by the pic-but some don't look aquatic-especially if they came in the tubes-a lot of them are not aquatic and will slowly rot, die and foul the water.
> Can you give us the name of the plants
> 
> Depending on what your finial stocking plan is....if your plants are true aquatic and you have the proper color temp light bulbs that are under 1yr old-You can do the silent cycle, however, unless you have the right species of plants and correct lights to support plant growth-the system might be problematic in the long run.
> ...




Plants of course! I wouldn't ever cycle a tank with live animals in it! 

And my petco plants are:
Tropica Fern
Assorted Anubias
Asian water fern

I googled them and they were saying they were full aquatic plants...I hope so! (The assorted Anubias makes me suspicious though...)

I use tap water and I use API freshwater master kit

Right now my water is pretty yellow...I added my drift wood in not to long ago and I made sure to rinse it well...But I'm thinking that's from the plants...should I empty some of the water??


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## Crowntails (Feb 12, 2013)

Your water is yellow because you need to float driftwood in a seperate bucket for at least a week to release the tannins. <- I think they are called that.


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## DefStatic (Mar 17, 2013)

The Asian Water Fern is sort of an aquatic plant. It is a really slow grower and can be a bit difficult. If it is not planted correctly or does not get the needed attention, it will go away quick.

I have two bunches in mine. Part of me wants to rip them out and replace them with something more common. But my betta seems to have taken a liking to hiding/resting under them from time to time.


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Crowntails said:


> Your water is yellow because you need to float driftwood in a seperate bucket for at least a week to release the tannins. <- I think they are called that.


Aww man....It was saying that I could float it in my tank or in a container (at least the tiny drift wood)....what do I do now?


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

Crowntails said:


> Your water is yellow because you need to float driftwood in a seperate bucket for at least a week to release the tannins. <- I think they are called that.


Ok I finally got some thing to hold it for the next week. I just did a water change of not too much (I would love to be able to save my cycle!) I am hopeful I don't need to start all over again??


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

DefStatic said:


> The Asian Water Fern is sort of an aquatic plant. It is a really slow grower and can be a bit difficult. If it is not planted correctly or does not get the needed attention, it will go away quick.
> 
> I have two bunches in mine. Part of me wants to rip them out and replace them with something more common. But my betta seems to have taken a liking to hiding/resting under them from time to time.


Well then lol it may not be lasting long with me! I have to admit there were a few plants in my 10 gallon I moved to my cycled 5 and they really have started growing MUCH better so I'm very happy


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## pyro fiend (Oct 20, 2011)

Roemgie said:


> Ok I finally got some thing to hold it for the next week. I just did a water change of not too much (I would love to be able to save my cycle!) I am hopeful I don't need to start all over again??


nope no need to start over the tannis is fine. some fish like it and it wont harm your plants from what i understand its a good thing yet a ugly thing lol. 

you can also boil the wood to get rid of it. for my wood i had to boil it quite a few times,my first boil looked ike i made a big pot of brown gravy lol, till its nice and clear. if you dont like the yellow your tank will get rid of it as im sure the filter pads are new. the activated carbon will draw it out in due time.


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

With the asian water fern (Bolbitis) I would put it somewhere nice and comfy and where you will forget about it. it likes nothing more than peace and quiet during it's transition to its submerged form. maybe in a month or two you'll remember it again and it'll be a whole new plant XD


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

pyro fiend said:


> nope no need to start over the tannis is fine. some fish like it and it wont harm your plants from what i understand its a good thing yet a ugly thing lol.
> 
> you can also boil the wood to get rid of it. for my wood i had to boil it quite a few times,my first boil looked ike i made a big pot of brown gravy lol, till its nice and clear. if you dont like the yellow your tank will get rid of it as im sure the filter pads are new. the activated carbon will draw it out in due time.


Ok that's good to hear! I did a little bit of a water change (partly because some of the leaves from my plants had fallen off). And I've now moved my drift wood to a little container and I filled it up with super hot water and I'm just letting it sit there and I'm changing the water every day until it starts not being so brown! But that's great to hear that it doesn't harm fish! 

It is a really huge piece (bigger than I thought!) and I don't have anything big enough to boil it :/ so hopefully this will work out well! 
And yeah it's been about 2-3 weeks now for my cycling and I have a little sponge filter


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## Roemgie (May 6, 2012)

aokashi said:


> With the asian water fern (Bolbitis) I would put it somewhere nice and comfy and where you will forget about it. it likes nothing more than peace and quiet during it's transition to its submerged form. maybe in a month or two you'll remember it again and it'll be a whole new plant XD


Wait do you mean just take it out of the tank?


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