Question on Dark Start and Ordering Plants

[Scotthop57]

Hi All,

I have been lurking for a bit and finally have a question. This is technically my first real go at a planted tank, I used to keep fish but besides doing water changes every once in a while, and making sure they were feed, the tanks were pretty low maintenance, and I didn't get all that deep into the science behind everything. I attempted getting into planted tanks probably like 10 years ago but I don't think I last more than a month or like planning and it got overwhelming and I just wasn't in a place to dive deep into it.

Now that I am a little bit older, I am finding great joy in just learning all the different aspects about planting.

Any how I recently set up my tank and am doing a dark start.

I am currently approx. 2 weeks into it. After about 9 days my readings were Ammonia- 0.0, Nitrite- 2.0ppm-ish Nitrate- 0.
Yesterday- my readings were Ammonia- 0.0, Nitrite- 2.0ppm, Nitrate- 10 ppm.

28 Gallon Shallow Tank, With a Fluval 207 running on it, Scaped with UNS Controsoil and Seiryu Stone.

Dosed it with Fritz Complete and Fritz Zyme7 when I flooded but haven't done any dosing of anything since.

So my question is do my readings mean I am mid cycle? Should I do a large water change at this point. I have read different theories or practices even with in the Dark Start Method.

When is my Dark Start complete? When I am at 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite and reading levels Nitrate?

The second question is if I order my plants when I get them if I am still at those readings is it an issue to plant or should I just continue to wait. I am fine with continuing to wait as I have been slowly building this since the start of November and I am still waiting on my CO2 set-up that I ordered the other day from CO2 Art.

The only real reason for not wanting to continue to wait is Aqua Plants Factory has a bunch of nice sales on plants I wanted to order and I didn't want to miss out lol. Since some aren't invitro I assume I have to get them planted right away once receiving them. But I also don't want to order them and plant if by doing so before the cycle is complete I kind of wasted my time starting the Dark Start as I did it as it seemed like the better option of doing daily water changes at the start.

Thanks in Advance. I have really enjoyed lurking on here reading all the comments. I also lurk on Reddit and some other forums and this one seems to be one of the better ones in terms of people not just being "experts" and nay saying anything that does fit with what they know as it seems like in all aspects there are great nuances to what works and doesn't.

 

[techman81]

A few things:

I am currently approx. 2 weeks into it. After about 9 days my readings were Ammonia- 0.0, Nitrite- 2.0ppm-ish Nitrate- 0.
Yesterday- my readings were Ammonia- 0.0, Nitrite- 2.0ppm, Nitrate- 10 ppm.

Typically, dark starts with high ammonia aquasoils will take at least 4 weeks if not 5. That isn't written in stone, but from my experience so far, a good rule to go by.

When is my Dark Start complete? When I am at 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite and reading levels Nitrate?

Essentially yes. At this point, the tank is "cycled and plants and fish can be added....BUT...the tank is still in a rather immature state and you may experience some plant melt, especially with tissue culture plants, and you'll likely deal with some biofilm and algae until things mature and plant mass begins to help balance things out.

Dosed it with Fritz Complete and Fritz Zyme7 when I flooded but haven't done any dosing of anything since.

I think Fritz has one of the better bacteria products out there, especially their Turbo start, however, if you add it too early when ammonia is still high, it probably won't do much, I don't know exactly when you added it, but I think it performs best when added only once ammonia is down to 2.00 ppm or below.

The second question is if I order my plants when I get them if I am still at those readings is it an issue to plant or should I just continue to wait. I am fine with continuing to wait as I have been slowly building this since the start of November and I am still waiting on my CO2 set-up that I ordered the other day from CO2 Art.

If using tissue culture plants, they can remain in their cups unopened for at least several weeks after arrival if not longer. Non-TC plants, I would want to get planted within a few days if possible, but we have some professional growers on the board that have better knowledge than I.

 

[Pepere]

So my question is do my readings mean I am mid cycle? Should I do a large water change at this point.

Wel the readings mean your beneficial bacteria are keeping up converting ammonia to nitrite as the soil leaches ammonia.. and the nitrate indicates itrite is being converted to nitrate..

So you have both types of bacteria present and active…

When is my Dark Start complete? When I am at 0 and 0 for Ammonia and Nitrite and reading levels Nitrate?

Well, there is the ability to metabolize ammonia through to nitrate, but there is also the issue of at what rate can it accomplish this act…

I like to dose ammonia and continue with cycling until the beneficial bacteria in the tank can metabolize a 2 ppm ammonia challenge to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites within 24 hours of dosing.

I also do a deep water changes should get once nitrates get much above 50 ppm…

It can take several weeks for beneficial bacteria colony is numerous enough to metabolize a 2 ppm ammonia challenge to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites.

The only real reason for not wanting to continue to wait is Aqua Plants Factory has a bunch of nice sales on plants I wanted to order and I didn't want to miss out lol

Rather than buying plants to start with, I would suggest getting trimmings from fellow hobbyists of simple plants to just fill your tank with simple plants when you are ready to plant. I would imagine there are any number of us happy to help you out with trimmings simply for the cost of shipping. As an added benefit the plants are all converted to submerged form…

Then let the tank stabilize and mature with hardy simple plants to get through the ugly ducklin stage. Then once everything is growing well and is established start pulling out patches and start planting your desired plants.. companies have sales all the time just like car dealers.

I would wait at least 4 months or so before introducing tissue culture.
plants. They typically do better once the tank becomes more mature.



I like to dark start for at least 4 weeks to let the bacteria colony mature before planting, and that is with using filter squeezings from established tanks to seed the aquarium…