Tropical Tank Set Up?
by Aquaboy on Friday, April 16th, 2010 | 5 Comments
Just wondering how long id have to leave after setting up the tank to add fish and plants. Was thinking about planting Plants as soon as i start the cycle using small plants giving them a few weeks to fill out then adding fish as when i kept Goldfish they ripped the plants to shreads.
Cheers
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You should leave it for at least 24 hours before you add plants and fish.
~ZTM
To get your tank stabilized, get some very hardy fish (zebra danios for example). How long the cycle will take depends on the size of the tank, but expect around 1-2 weeks. DO NOT add all the fish at the same time if it is a smaller tank or the ammonia levels can spike, thus potentially killing your fish. You can add a few plants before you get the fish and if the water is at an ok quality. Some freshwater TLC can boost the cycle (ask for a sample bottle at a local fish store) Good luck!
You can add fish or begin a fishless cycle as soon as you see that the tank is not leaking and all the equipment works properly. I wouldn’t suggest you add the plants until the cycle is complete as they will have nearly no nutrients to use until the cycle is creating nitrate.
MM
Goldfish are well known for voraciously attacking plans; they’re primarily herbivores. That said, you’re a step ahead of half the population in that you already realize the tank needs to cycle. A lot of cycling time really depends on such variables as water quality, so the best I can do is give you a broad answer that works in most cases:
It would not behoove you to add either too many plants or too many fish at once. Both increase the bio-load of the tank, albeit in different ways, and to prevent a collapse of the cycle it is necessary to gradually intoduce both. Depending on what fish you’re getting, you probably don’t have to worry too much about letting the plants grow out before adding fish. I would reccomend letting it cycle for about a week, then get one or two small, hardy fish (zebra danios are a good choice, but any small, reasonably easy to keep tropical community fish will do) and increasing at a rate of no more than 1 fish or plant per week.
The aquarium is not technically fully cycled and stable until two or more months after it has been set up, but fish can be kept in it much earlier.
Again, though, this is all just a broad ideal. You may very well be able to let it run for ten hours and toss in a few fish with no adverse effects, but I don’t reccomend it.
when starting a completely new tank with new rocks and everything you should wait a minimum of 2 weeks before adding fish and when the 2 weeks are up you might want to add some feeder guppies just to get the beneficial bacteria started then when you get your new fish they will either eat the guppies or the little guppies will die so that you dont have to care for them anymore.