# Planted tank cycle help. Silent cycle, no cycle, or hungry plants?



## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

I have 3 planted tanks with filters that have been set up since May now. None of them showed any indications of cycling before the planting, and now, several months later, I still get flat zeros across the board. (i've checked the kit on my tap water, and i get some ammonia there, so at least the kit works). For a while I got some ammonia, and then for a day or 2 I got some nitrates and nitrites, but then nothing. Even with the baby snail explosion going on in my 20 gallon, I still get nada. Are my plants sucking up ammonia before it gets converted? Or are they sucking up nitrates or nitrites?

The pics are of my tanks last week, and the last one is looking into the top of my 10 gallon. (the 2.5 looks like that too in miniature, the 20 gallon doesn't as I keep removing floaters to allow more light down to the planted plants.) The 10 and 2.5 gallon have to be trimmed about every two weeks, and the floating plants double every 10-14 days.


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## Stone (Jan 6, 2013)

Often time with planted tanks you will get 0-0-0 across the board it's just how it works


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

Ok, so hungry plants. Gotcha.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

To be clear, you've been dosing ammonia daily/as needed to bring it up to 2-4ppm for the tank's volume and testing it? [this page has a greate ammonia calculator+info on cycling fish-less]
If you don't feed the beneficial bacteria constantly, they won't grow, and just like fish, if you over feed (make ammonia too high) they die.


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

I'm doing a fish in cycle. Well, fish, snails, and plants. The 10 and 20 gallon tanks have been running with the same filters since March or so. May they got planted. But same filters since March in the 10 and 20 gallons (but not in the 2.5 gallon as I've been through about 4 filters to find one Lir doesn't violently hate.)


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## bluenail (Jul 23, 2014)

What is your stocking load? Unless it is heavily stocked, I wouldn't expect to see nitrates or nitrites and, and rarely ammonia. You will get your highest readings if you check right before your aquarium lights are set to turn on. 

Your plants are eating the ammonia directly, and using the nitrogen instead of turning it into nitrites or nitrates.


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## myexplodingcat (Apr 9, 2014)

+1 bluenail. Plants can totally handle the bioload of an understocked tank.


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## aselvarial (Feb 21, 2014)

I have 1 betta, 4 adult mystery snails, ramshorns, and trumpet snails in the 10 gallon. Mystery snails were added slowly. The 20 gallon has 3 bettas, ramshorns, baby mystery snails, 2 juvenile mystery snails, and asstd trumpet snails. The 2.5 gallon has 1 betta, trumpet snails, and 1-2 ramshorns usually (i pull them as I see them and put them in the bigger tanks)


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## bluenail (Jul 23, 2014)

I don't know snails well enough to say for sure, but that sounds like a fairly light bioload to me! And it is a type of bioload that ensures that plant detritus will not raise ammonia, since it will be eaten before it has a chance to rot. 

I'd say you are probably okay with your bioload and may not get more ammonia, but I'm not sure enough of that to say that you shouldn't keep testing!


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## Pandanke (Jun 16, 2014)

That's a relatively light bioload, most plants are probably handling that just fine.


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