Water Changes - Proportion Changed - Discussion [some Missing Posts In Thread]

Java fern needs more light than most other easy plants. Try getting it high in the waters column. And dont despair if it takes ages to get used to your water conditions. If it grows black spots on the leaves, these will grow into baby plants more readily adjusted to the tank parameters. They should be harvested at a decent size as eventually the parent leaf will die off.once successfully growing its needs to be cleaned out near the rhizomes as it attracts waste yet needs goo water flow around it's roots etc.

 I promised to write this up a while back but have never got round to it... this is the jist of things anyway.

There are 2 things at play here hence the possible confusion...

Cycling a tanks filter is best when there is ammonia in the water column to feed the bacteria. Hence why often suggested to not do water changes (as there is no point removing any ammonia to just replace it). BUT as yiu are having a planted tank it is arguably more important to have established plants than an established filter as these will more quickly be able to deal with the fish waste. Tropica advise to do lots of water changes for the first month or so because this is when tanks are most susceptible to diatoms as the plants settle in etc and the water changes keep any nutrients in the water column to a minimum to help with reducing the likelihood or extent of an outbreak.

If there are enough fast growing plants, there will be no nitrite as plants do not turn ammonia into nitrite. But I always recommend checking it, just in case there aren't enough plants or they are not growing well enough.

[Some posts missing in this thread as, regrettably for us given that she was a valued member, former member Fishtales left the forum and deleted most of her posts.]