# Cycling A Planted Tank: A New Approach.



## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

Or maybe that should be:

*Cycling a planted tank: A New (Maybe) Approach.*

Okay, so this is not new in terms of how long the fishkeeping industry has been using it, but it is not an approach I have personally seen, to the best of my recollection – EVER – on here. 

It will raise some points and use some methods that are, possibly, going to be treated with a lot of... distain, hostility or drama on this forum, but it is a recognised and accepted method for those cycling a planted tank. This method only applies to planted tanks and is explained below. And it is going to be a long one (around 2,500 words). Sorry. I've kept the whys for the second section, so you can just take the method if you want. 

Here on BF.com there is a lot of ammonia dosing, a lot of bacteria in a bottle, a lot of filter media exchange and even a fair amount of fish-in cycling. I want to be clear; I am not saying any of these methods are wrong and I have no intention of saying you are cruel or unthinking in using any of these methods, before this is suggested; I am just trying to give a new angle, one of patience and letting a natural process happen…. Naturally. 

*Part the First: The Method:

* Step One: Your Test Kit:

You will notice I have not, at any point below said, ‘whip out that Master test kit, and start monitoring’. There is a reason behind this, and I know I am going to get ripped into for it, but the test kit is completely redundant with this method. Step One is: put it away. There is a lot of debate as to how accurate and/or consistent the kits are anyway, so if you want to guarantee there is no ammonia before adding a fish, you need to wait (though I have seen no evidence that a zero-read on ammonia is anything but a zero on an in date kit). This thread is for the planted tank enthusiast as well as the betta keeper, and opinion on test kits differs dramatically between the two sides of the hobby. 

NOTE: This ditching of the test kit is for this method, I wouldn't ever attempt a true fish-in cycle without a kit. Personally? I use it, but sporadically as all my tanks are established and stable I don't test water during this cycling process as its a waste of expensive kit for no reason. I rely more on signs from the tanks flora and fauna that something is wrong, though I do often use the kit to help pinpoint the issue if it isn't obvious. It’s more a guide than a god, to me.  

Step Two: Lay the Substrate(s) and Hardscapes:

Use whatever floats your boat, but as this is in the planted tank section, or at least written with the intention of it being there, I am guessing most of you are using soil, be it aquarium-specific or some good, safe compost from the garden. I accept there are gravel and sand and other inert-substrates that are used (I even use sand in some planted tanks) but a good soil will work wonders for plants and I hold with it being the best option if your interest is as much in your plants as your fish. 

Step Three: Add Plants:

You want a lot of fast growers; especially the stem plants or any that develops their root systems quickly. I have had success with crypts, so not writing off all other plants. 

Step Four: Water Changes:

You have no fish at this point, so you can go pretty mad with these. As a rule of thumb, you need at least two 50% water changes a week and this should continue for six weeks or more. In a small tank, like many of us here use for the solitary male betta, two 50% are the norm so this shouldn’t be a hard task. If you can see your way to doing daily changes, good on you. It won’t hurt, as plants love clean water, it removes their waste as well as it removes fish waste, and it will help replenish lost oxygen when it agitates the water’s surface going in and bubbling back up. 

Whilst doing water changes, lower the water enough to uncover the plants, give them a light rub with your thumb to remove any bio-film (like a fishes slime coat) they often develop as this inhibits gas exchange through the leaves, and hence, plant growth.

Step five: Wait. 

Six to eight weeks. Yes, that long. By then the mineralisation of soil should be complete (the release of toxic levels of ammonia dn co2 should be over after two or three, but whilst the soil is safe, the bacteria still need time), and the bacterial colonies large enough to handle the small sudden increase provided by a betta, and stable enough not to crash at the earliest (in)convenience. Should you test before you put fish in? If it makes you feel happy then yes, crack on, you! Do you need to? No. Wait eight weeks. The system is mature and it is safe to add fish. 

A Note on Adding Fish.

I can see what may be said here; adding fish increases the bio-load, which does, in essence make this a fish in-cycle. However, the key point of this is making stable bacterial colonies not, as with dosing to high levels of ammonia, making it tackle high levels from the get-go. This stability of the bacteria, along with the micronutrients and oxygen from the plants (explained below) means the bacterial colonies should catch up rapidly, with no (or little) health issues to the fish, so long as they are added _slowly_. As such, I personally keep up with an extra water change every week for a few weeks. 


*Part the Second: 

 Nitrification: The Planted Tank vs. The Artificial Tank:*

_Disclaimer; this may be a bit more in-depth than is strictly necessary, but I have tried to simplify as much as I can. I have left the science behind the processes in as, in my case at least, understanding this has, for me helped in understanding the use of bottled ammonia or bacteria in starting a cycle, and why personally I have changed my method for cycling tanks because of this. _

I need to start off by saying that nothing is ‘different’ about the cycling process of a planted tank to that of a tank with gravel and fake plants in. The difference is in the rate at which the colonies of bacteria breed and stabilise; all tanks cycle in the same way. 

What we call the nitrification cycle is simply the accumulation of populations of specific types of bacteria which are useful in the ‘detoxification’ of ammonia and nitrites, converting them into the much less toxic nitrates. 

These bacteria are present in your water as soon as it is dumped into the tank and left to sit around, just in insufficient quantities. A tank cycling is inevitable, in fact, if you'll give it enough time. These nitrifying bacteria are so excellently equipped to populate any and every possible body of water with a source of food (NH3/NO2), and if it has access to air (read; not in a vacuum) it has that food source, that it takes some pretty good lab technique to keep cultures free of them. 

The problem with a new tank is that the population of bacteria required to safely oxidize these Nitrogen compounds number in the trillions (one millilitre of water will have about 50-100 million bacteria in, in mature system! The bacteria reproduce by splitting one cell into two, and each of those two divides again into four, and then the four all divide themselves into two and so forth. Even with the amazing rate at which the bacteria can undergo this ‘binary fission’ process, the tank is not going to establish this bacteria colony overnight. 

So, if you started with just one bacterium, it would take weeks for them to reach the trillions needed. To have any appreciable effect on the concentration of toxic Nitrogen compounds, you need large numbers of the microbes. This is where plants can step in, along with ‘seeder’ media from a mature tank. 

In the planted tank, the plants absorb the ammonia released into the water by fish, decomposition of plants, waste food and the like. In essence, this means the plants are competing with the bacteria for the food source (ammonia), buffering the amount of free ammonia left in the water column, even when the bacteria are too few in number to impact on the large quantities of ammonia present. One caveat here is that the plants must be healthy in order to do this efficiently. Adding sick, weak or otherwise non-thriving plants will only add to the ammonia load.

In contrast, in an unplanted tank, while the bacteria are busy building their populations, the only safe way to keep fish alive is to continually reduce the ammonia and nitrite concentration build-up manually; by continually removing water and diluting the concentration of the built-up ammonia.

Many people assume that these bacteria _only_ require ammonia, and that the more ammonia the better, but this is not the case. In order to grow their colony, the bacteria also require Oxygen, Potassium and phosphates, along with micronutrients. When we artificially add ammonia to an empty tank, we are not adding any of the other elements essential to success of the process and these are the limiting nutrients, not the ammonia. It can even be a hindrance to the process as too much ammonia is toxic to all of the colonies of the nitrifying bacteria, even the ones that ‘eat’ ammonia, especially to those that don’t use it and it can actively reduce the oxygen concentrations of the water. 

In an unplanted tank, there will be a severe shortage of oxygen and this limitation will limit the ability of the bacterial population to grow. Conversely, in a planted tank, plants release massive amounts of oxygen, not only into the water column, but also through their root network, as they transfer the oxygen into the sediment. This is a necessity to the plants, as their roots require oxygen supplementation after the roots are flooded. The oxygen sent to the roots to keep them alive then escapes into the sediment so that the bacterial populations in the sediment are not limited by the poor oxygen levels typical of unplanted sediments. During the natural processes of growth of the plants, they also release carbohydrates. In this respect, the plants actually help the bacteria by providing the starch and oxygen the bacteria require to build healthy populations, even whilst they are competing with the population for the ammonia. 

It is, perhaps, worth noting here that this is why fast-growing stem plants are normally recommended when trying to cycle the planted tank in as quick a way as possible; they tend to have extensive, fast-growing root networks that penetrate the substrate, allowing for this exchange of oxygen and other micronutrients into the substrate, where a large amount of bacteria can be found.

In a healthy, well planted tank therefore, the bacterial population rise more quickly and are sustained more easily because they have access to almost unlimited nutrient, carbohydrate and Oxygen levels. This precipitates the simple accumulation of bacterial populations, still occurs, but occurs more rapidly and with far greater stability than in the unplanted tank. 

Regards to ammonia sourcing, there is no need to add what could possibly become toxic levels of ammonia to the tank via dosing, though personally I still put great store in this method when coupled with other methods, such as adding seeder media from another tank, as empirically I have had nothing but good results. Scientifically, however, logic leads me to believe I may not be using the fastest method I can. Hmm, what a quandary! In a planted tank left to cycle by itself, the organic matter in the tank from the plant leaves themselves, some of which fall off, decay will provide the bacteria with the ammonia they require. 

For the bacteria, every surface of the plant is already covered with bacteria so the tank becomes seeded with these forms. You can add a little mulm/filter media from another tank or even a bit of garden soil to the sediment and filter to add more numbers. There is no need to buy bacteria because they are everywhere. 

Both ammonia and bacteria can be provided by using garden soils (Miracle Gro’s Organic Potting Mix seems to be the choice in the US, and in the UK many seem to hold with John Innes #3). This will leach ammonia, if not pre-soaked for weeks before hand, and also boost the initial bacteria colonies; a benefit that would not be seen in inert substrates such as gravel, especially if they are sterilised before-hand.

In conclusion, these are the fundamental differences between an unplanted and a planted tank. So it is not that something "different" happens, it is simply that the things that happen are greatly accelerated and enhanced by the presence of healthy live plants. 

This is why we are encouraged to start the tank with as many plants as possible – with as many rooted plants as possible – because it is the substrate that does a lot of the heavy lifting in terms of the growth of the bacterial population and nitrification process.


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## ChattyFish (Nov 27, 2014)

What an excellent guide! You've managed to make, what is a very daunting subject, easily accessible to the reader.


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## BettaMummy87 (Jul 26, 2014)

Really? I am glad! It's a pretty heavy subject and hard to take all of the jargon, science and whatnot out of and still keep the essence. I have been thinking through the whole process for weeks to get my head around it properly enough to be able to summarise. I am glad it's not all total gobbledegook, which was what I thought it was when proof-reading. XD


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## T.ricia.4444 (Jul 28, 2021)

BettaMummy87 said:


> Or maybe that should be:
> 
> *Cycling a planted tank: A New (Maybe) Approach.*
> 
> ...


Fantastic ! Thank you !


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