It is tremendously helpful to cycle a tank before planting.
It is tremendously helpful to cycle a tank before planting. The approach is to let the filter run, with hardscape and substrate in, without lights. If you are using an aquasoil substrate that is of decent richness, it should release ammonia for the first few weeks. We let our tanks cycle for at least a week (2 is better), and add APT Start (which contains starter bacteria culture) to accelerate the cycling. This is sometimes called a dark start, as the tank's lights are turned off during this period. Lights are turned off so as not to trigger algae. The exact steps are detailed below: