So you keep the fish alive with many water changes? How many per week?

How much did you pay for the prodibio bacteria soil kit?

With new tanks I'll do 10% every day for 2-3 weeks then I start weaning down to a once a week 50% change with all the other tanks. I've been weaning down on tanks so I can redo the fish house though. I want to clear out all of the tanks, fix the drywall and mildew, repaint then organize the tanks for more efficient operations. I currently own close to 70 tanks and want to get them all running by year end.

Wow 70 tanks. That must take some time. Have you the kids helping you with the maintenance?

My only kid is 7 so no help. I own almost 70. So far I've only had 42 running at once. I've cut to 30+ getting ready for the redo. All my tanks are heavily planted and lightly stocked. While I try to do changes every week I can go for at least 3-4 without one and still be fine. When I finally settle on what I want to breed I'll be more attentive to husbandry. And when I am at full tankage I'll do a bit of automation. At least on the fill part. I get to draining a tank while filling another and you can guess the outcome.
Also while I do a change every week not all are done on the same day. And some of the larger tanks don't really require a weekly because they are so lightly stocked. My 75 right now has maybe a handful of livebearers. It can go a month without a change.

Here's a scenario:
If you don't use filters - there are those of us who do not use filters - then you are working on water changes and plants only.
Does it work? Yes.
Will it work for you? Impossible to say for sure. It depends on your tap water quality and the amount of water you change.

Here's my philosophy:
Filters work, but water changes are better.

Set up a bucket with a powerhead and your bio filter media full of water. Dose ammonia as you would for fishless cycling. Test, etc. Start this before you set up your new tank (or even while you're shopping) and the media will be ready close to when the tank is. Then move it to the newly set up tank.

I have a MarinePure slab in a bucket right now cycling for my new 60.

I used to keep a bucket of bioballs going like that back when I was breeding. Always had cycled media ready to go whenever I needed to spin up a new tank. Wrap a handful of them in filter mat, stick a tube with an airstone in it and instant sponge filter for fry. Really useful when the idiot parents spawn unexpectedly or you need a treatment tank.

On youtube Dr Tim shows how you can cycle a tank without any seeded material in 7 days.

While I do see a ton of information here, it is kind of all over the place. To get back to the original question...

"Does my aquarium need to be cycled if I stuff it full of healthy plants from the beginning?"

Well, no one hear really loudly said it, and I want to at least get it out there, in case anyone new reads this thing: You could very easily lose all of your fish trying to cycle with live fish, relying on your plants to do the filtering.

Hey, I've done it with success, before. Substrate in, plants in, fish in, turn on equipment, monitor parameters, cross fingers, hope. I've also seen entire tanks of fish die off, due to an ammonia spike, even though the tank was "heavily planted". There is too much gray area there, for my tastes. What is "heavily planted"? How many fish to use per plant? Per ounce of plant? Per stem? Per surface area of leaf? Seriously, there is no real way to quantify the needs for this process.

In short, I personally judge it way too risky, and stick to fishless cycling, even in my heavily planted tanks. Could it work? Sure. Does an entire tank of fish slowly dying of ammonia poisoning cause you any angst or sadness? Measure that (unknown) risk versus the potential gains, and make your decision.


Namaste.

That is what the late Rex Griggs called a silent cycle. He listed these plants -
Plants Foxtail, Hygro, Creeping Charlie, Red Ludwigia, Moneywort, Wisteria, Egeria, Shinnersia rivularis, Sprite. Suggestions 4-6 stems each.

When dealing with nature nothing is written in stone. Just start slowly. Start with 3 medium easy fish. You would not start with fish like RAMs.

nice tank whats taht carpet?

Because when starting, the water in the aquarium very new and the microorganism in this environment still not be set. So there aren't nothing that treat the nitrite produced by the waste of aquarium inhabitants. So you should make your tank cycled before stocking to ensure your fish healthy.