[eggplantlady]

Well it has been 7 months since this journey began and now my soil is mineralized, the clay formed, all the necessaries have arrived except for the glass top for my 40 gallon breeder, which should be in soon. One more trip and then I'll be home for the foreseeable future to nurture this new 'world'!

One last question: I would like to seed the tank with some filter material from my current (non-planted) tank but I have a pretty bad algae problem with that tank. Will this introduce algae spores into the new tank? If so, I don't want to do it as I've never been able to totally get rid of this stuff. If I don't seed it, about how long will it take before I can add my beloved platys and tetras to this new tank? Will 4 weeks probably be okay (I will test the water first)?

 

[daMooseCaboose]

It will introduce algae spores, but as long as your water parameters are good, you should be fine. Your plants and your algae compete for resources in the tank. Because your other tank was non planted, they ran amuck because they had no competitors. You should do better in this planted tank because the plants are there. CO2 will also help keep algae under control. All healthy tanks have algae, it's just keeping them in control which is the hard part.

Bump: If you don't seed it, it can take weeks. You can use tetra safe start or other similar product to quicken the time but seeding is the way to go. That's what I did in my tank and it cycled in a week. I've been watching the parameters every day and it's been stable. I have some algae growth but it is all contained.

 

[IUnknown]

Watch out for bga, which in my case was resistant to antibiotics. Planted tanks can get away with not being seeded as the plants do the work.

 

[eggplantlady]

A delayed thanks to you both!