Cycling with plants?

[Eclipse390]

Hey all -
Long time lurker, haven't had tanks in about 5 years now. Had multiple tanks in the past (5-150 gallons).

I've never had a planted tank, and I haven't had to cycle a virgin tank in a LONG time.
I've purchased a home & am about to start setting up the tanks again.
My question is this - is cycling the same with plants? Do I need to know anything special about it?
I've thought about getting seeded media from a LFS to help speed up the process, but know that runs high risks with disease. I unfortunately do not have anyone I know with tanks.

I read somewhere that EcoComplete helps cycle a tank faster, does anyone have experience with this? I've used Tetra SafeStart in the past for smaller tanks, but haven't used it in years obviously.

Last thing - anyone have any LFS they recommend in the southern NY area? I'm in the Hudson Valley & everything local to me has closed over the past 5 years.

Thanks in advance!

 

[ProAquarist]

I don't buy that any of the "live" substrates do anything to actually speed up cycling.

Plants can help ease the fluctuations while cycling because they consume ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate directly. How big is the tank? Tanks that are large enough usually go through what I call a silent cycle. Basically, because there is so much water volume, adding just a few small fish (for example, a few 2" peacock cichlids in a 180-gallon tank) doesn't lead to lethal levels of anything. It's basically fish-in cycling that's much safer because the volume of water keeps everything diluted to safe levels.

 

[duanes]

I don't buy that any of the "live" substrates do anything to actually speed up cycling.

Plants can help ease the fluctuations while cycling because they consume ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate directly. How big is the tank? Tanks that are large enough usually go through what I call a silent cycle. Basically, because there is so much water volume, adding just a few small fish (for example, a few 2" peacock cichlids in a 180-gallon tank) doesn't lead to lethal levels of anything. It's basically fish-in cycling that's much safer because the volume of water keeps everything diluted to safe levels.

I agree with this.
I recently set up a 180 gal tank from scratch, collected lots of plants from Lake Gatun, the first fish being about 2 dozen 1" Gambusia also collected the same day the plants, with beach sand substrate, with some rocks and wood.
The tank remined stocked like this for about a month or so, before adding more sizable fish ( half dozen local 2"-4" Andinoacara, a Panamanian Plecosomus, and goby, couple weeks later added another half dozen Andinoacara.
This is basically how the tank has remained for the last 9 months.
It has never exhibited an ammonia spike, or even measurable nitrate.
Although the planting didn't start out quite this lush, it was significant, and none of the initial fish were larger than 5". This heavy planting I believe is the reason there were"no" measurable toxic spikes,

the filtration is a double sump, with mechanical media, and with Portett foam, and bioballs as biomedia

 

[Oughtsix]

When I setup my 35g hex I cycled the dirt bottom gravel cap tank with plants. The cycling went well but I did loose a few plants in the process. I would reccomend using cheap hearty plants.

I found with the Miracle Grow organic potting soil substrait that no dosing was needed. I initially had a couple of string algae outbreaks that I treated with hydrogen peroxide quite effectively. After the plants took off I haven't had any algea in several years even with some direct morning sunlight and way too much artificial light. I wasted money on the seachem dosing products initially but I haven't done any dosing for a few years now and my plants are growing like crazy!

 

[Thacarter54632]

In a more sizable planted tank it is usually cheaper to do a clay type substrate like turface or safe-t-sorb and root tabs.

I haven't cycled a tank from scratch in years. I've always had old media, plant trimmings, and substrate, so pretty much instant cycle.

 

[Eclipse390]

I don't buy that any of the "live" substrates do anything to actually speed up cycling.

Plants can help ease the fluctuations while cycling because they consume ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate directly. How big is the tank? Tanks that are large enough usually go through what I call a silent cycle. Basically, because there is so much water volume, adding just a few small fish (for example, a few 2" peacock cichlids in a 180-gallon tank) doesn't lead to lethal levels of anything. It's basically fish-in cycling that's much safer because the volume of water keeps everything diluted to safe levels.

It's only a 20 gal for right now. I wanted to try my hand at a smaller planted tank before I dove in spending tons of money.

Thanks for all of the feedback guys! I ordered some plants online & have been cycling my tank for the past 2 weeks the old fashioned way. Hopefully the plants will help speed everything up for me.