Plants With Tetra Safestart Cycle?

So i am going to be doing a tetra safestart cycle with guppies on wednesday, but wanted to know if i could add some plants when i add the guppies? I have 2 inches of sand.

 

Is there a reason you want to do a fish-in cycle? If you don’t have the fish yet I would recommend you do a fish less. If you already have a cycled tank you can even add some media from that and add it to help your cycle.

To answer your questions, it is fine to add plants while cycling.

 

Any plants you recommed? Preferably ones that are easy to care for. Low light?

 

Good for you for planning so well. Yes plants are fine (the plants section/forum has lists of recommended low light plants.
TSS+ works great for a fish in cycle if you 1. Adhere to the super light stocking guidelines (1 inch of fish per 10 gallons) and 2. Feed lightly for the 14 days.
Good luck

 

I don’t know. The super light stocking is the TSS recommendation. It is where I think people report TSS “fails” because they fully stock the tank & then expect TSS to work. So with plants maybe the OP should aim for 1.5-2 inch of fish per 10 gallons?

 

Yep i know and thanks.

I was going to do 3 guppies because 1. I am planning to have guppies in this tank and 2. I have a 29 gallon so is that one gallon gonna make a difference?

 

No the one gallon won’t matter. I cycled my 34 gallon tank with 6 fish - 2 guppies & 2 platys. They were all young, I had no plants. What is your final stocking plan? You might want 4-5 fish, depending on how small/big they are.

 

My final stocking plan is
6x guppies
6x neon tetras
6x Albino corys
X1 Smaller species of pleco like pitbull or something.

 

I might cycle with 4 guppies. I would be concerned about temperature compatibility between the albino Cory’s & neons. Beware many people have issues with neons being poorly bred.

 

So what should i replace the neons with?

 

I think the temperature may be all right. Neon tetras prefer 68-78 degrees, albino corydoras prefer 72-79 degrees, guppies prefer 70-80 degrees, and pitbull plecos prefer 68-78 degrees. All seems to work out, but if you're worried about the quality of the neon tetras, then harlequin rasboras are a good replacement.

 

So do i get 3 or 4 guppies when i start the cycle tomorrow? Also i know tanks need to run for at least 24 hours but is 20 hours close enough?

 

Yeah, 20 hours is fine. Three to four guppies seems all right, but make sure to test the water daily just in case. If ammonia gets above 1 ppm, perform a water change and use Prime to detoxify ammonia/nitrites (unless Safestart does that already).

 

When doing a safestart cycle i am not aloud to do any water change for 14 days. On the 15th day i can do a water change with prime but if i do it during the 14 days the bacteria will be killed by prime.

 

Ah, okay. I've never used it, so I wouldn't know. Just follow the directions and you should be all right.

 

Yep

 

Yes - you are right. Do not test or water change with TSS+. You can top off after 7 days using dechlorinated water if needed. I am excited for you!

 

Thanks! But i think i have run into a minor problem. Guppies. They breed and i am not interested in having a tank full of guppies exept i want to keep them and i want to have some live plants. What do i do?

 

Get all male or all female.