"HDH" wrote in message .net...
Hi All,
I'm a week into the fishless cycling process on my 55 gallon, using straight
Ammonia and some established gravel. Going well, Nitrites have spiked as of
today.

I also received a large assortment of plants today from
trueaquariumplants.com. Should I put them in the tank now or wait until the
cycling process completes without them? I currently have them in a 5 gallon
bucket of dechlorinated water.

Thanks for any advice,
Howard

Well, your cycle is a long way from being done.
Adding NH4 and light is a bad idea.

I'd do this since you already have the plants: do a large % water
change 2-3x over the next few days, maybe just a very large one, but
you should not be able to test for NO2 and NH4.

Then add the plants.

Use KNO3 for any Nitrogen needs for the plants. Never use NH4, this is
great stuff for inducing algae.

You don't need to do cycling to start with in a plant tank. The plants
ARE the cycle. They remove BOTH NH4 and NO3. So there is no cycle
since they assimulate these into their tissues.

You don't need to add anything to cycle a plant tank except take care
of the plant's needs, eg CO2, light and nutrients.

Regards,
Tom Barr