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is it ok to put plants in a newly setup aquarium before you put in fish???

like if you wanted to start growing the plants and then add fish later on in the tank or would the plants need the waste to grow? or is there things on the market like fertilizers to put in the tank to be able to grow plants without fish.

i was wondering because if i were to ever setup another aquarium i think i would start with growing a underwater garden and then add all my fish to it.

any comments are acceptable!!! thanx.

[span class="edited"][Edited by 2004-07-18 12:52][/span]

kj fishy-finn <*)))><
20 Gallon Album
5 Gallon Album

There are plenty of fertilizers on the market, you just need to pick the ones most appropriate for your plants (tabs for root feeders, liquid for those plants that feed from the water column). As for setting up the plants first, I personally think the idea is a good thing. Some say it can slow the cycling process, because the plants help absorb the ammonia, etc.

I was actually planning on doing this for my five gallon tank, but a poor tattered betta girl just insisted on coming home. She's quarantined until she's healed up and ready to join her new friends. And since the five gallon was set up... in she went. To make a long story short, she had to deal with me putting the plants in while she was in the tank, because the plant order arrived after she did.

~Meow. Thus spoke the cat.~

You will need a source of nitrAte though. There are plenty of people who do just plant tanks. The biggest problem, that I know of anyway, is that without a source of nitrATe the plants cannot use the fertalizers and it therefore goes to the algae.

If there are absolutly no live animals you should be able to keep it cycled by the same method used for fishless cycling, which is to add ammonia. If the tank is understocked you can add nitrAte directly thru use of KNO3. In the states Lowes hardware stores is the only place I've found that sells the proper brand of Greenlight Tree Stump Remover which is pure KN03. Even stocked tanks will often need NO3 added if it is planted heavily with fast nitrAte absorbers.
HTH a bit .

^_^

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