hi all

i just got back from all the fish stores in my area and none of them wanted to sell me their cycled gravel. i was really nice when asking too I was just wondering if i put a plant from a cycled tank into my tank could that jump start my tank?

It will help, IMO, as bacteria live on surfaces, so a plant will contain bacteria. However, the surface area isn't as big as sponges from filters, or gravel. Plants also use a bit of the ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates as fertilizer... so I'd say can't hurt!

thanks for the reply

whats IMO? also could a plant cycle a tank?

IMO = in my opinion

I don't think a plant could cycle a tank. There's just not enough surface area to have enough bacteria to cycle a tank. Could you get cycled filter media from a fishkeeper or petstore? That would help a lot with kick starting a cycle.

how about a bundle of 5 anacharis plants that are 7" in a 10 gal tank? what happens to the small amout of bacteria? why dont they reproduce and multiply exponentially? how fast do those bacteria multiply?

They will multiply, but since you're not starting out with that many on the plants, it takes a long time for them to get established in large enough numbers to handle all the waste that your fish will produce. Of course, there's no harm in getting plants with bacteria on them, but you shouldn't expect them to help quickly cycle the tank like seeded filter media or other that has a large quantity of bio-bugs.

I've "instantly" cycled several tanks using live plants from my other tanks. It works great, not only do the plants bring in plenty of bacteria, but the plants themselves use up the fish waste. I've always used plenty of plants though. They definately make it go faster and easier though.

You still have the worry of bringing in some diseases or snails or something else you mightnot want from the store though.

disease, 2 days of the plant in the tank and now my goldfish has fungus on his tail I've noticed that the tips of the anacharis's leaves are yellow and the ammonia level is not going down, but it is increaseing. does the plant need to have roots before it can absorb the ammonia?

No, but it does need light. Plants need to photosyntheize in order to use up fish waste and nitrates, and they can't do that without proper lighting. That's why the first question we always ask is how many watts do you have over how many gallons. Anacharis is one of those plants that doesn't need a lot, but its simply not going to be able to photosynthesize at really low light levels. Plants also need 12 hours a day of light and they can't use more than that, so turn off the lights after 12 hours or you'll just grow a ton of algae.

And those screw in incandescant bulbs really don't put out the type of light plants can use at all. You really need to have tube flourescant or compact flourescant bulbs. Be careful with trying to light a tank with a lamp, they often are the wrong kind of light, way too much light, or will heat up the water way too high and kill the fish.

thanks for the reply Myaj

oh ok, its a 10 gallon tank and a 15 watt flourescant tube is over it. I have timer attached to the light for 14 hours. I would like some algae to keep the toxic levels down. The tank is not yet cycled. The reason why i got the anacharis is to help keep the ammonia level down.

sorry if my last post seemed a bit rude that wasnt my intention. I was still in a state of shock when i was writing. again im really sorry.

No I know how frustrating it can be. The fungus on your fish may have come in on the plants, or it may just be due to poor water quality in a cycling tank.

1.5 watts per gallon is enough to grow some plants like anubias, crypts, hornwort, anacharis, etc, but it can be hard on the stem plants like hornwort and anacharis. I've never had that great of growth at that light level. People call them "easy to grow" plants, and they sure are, IF you give them the light and nutrients they like. Then you can't get them to stop growing! I can grow all kinds of plants really well, low-high light, but I have NEVER been able to get hornwort, ludwegia or even anacharis (for a long while now, at one time I had a tank full of it) to grow well. And those are supposed to be "easy" plants. They just don't like my water or something...

Try to get your hands on some java fern, java moss and anubias, they'll do good at that light level, don't need any special fertilization (they grow attached to things, not rooted) and will help you out big time. If you can't find any locally and you are in the US let me know and I can ship you out some, I have enough that I can send you a starter bunch.

Another thing is if the light bulb isn't brand new, you might want to pick up a new one. Plants can really only use the light output for the first 6 months or so, after that the bulb is still putting out light, just not enough or the right kind, not sure exactly how to explain it...

Just make sure you keep up those water changes and the fish will make it through their cycle just fine. Remember that live plants won't replace water changes, especially with goldies.

The tail issues are probably from the high ammonia levels. 8ppm+.
Glad you've got them down to 1ppm now.

so it looks white fuzzy along the edges of the tailfin?
Might better start a thread on that in the diagnosis or emergency forum.