Keeping bacteria alive and my tank cycled with no fish.

[bigtard]

I have to be away from my tank for about a month. I've already found a home for my fish. Right now there are no fish in my tank. How can I keep the tank cycled while I'm gone so I don't have to start the cycling process all over when I get back?

 

[Hara]

have someone feed the tank while you are gone

 

[bigtard]

I bought an auto feeder a while back because I was originally only supposed to be gone 2 weeks. I can use it to feed the tank.

How much do you think I need to use? Less than I would feed the fish?

 

[Fishyfanatic]

You could put a piece of raw shrimp in the tank to keep it cycled. It will cause your tank to be cloudy when you get back, but it will keep you from having to re-cycle. That's just about the only thing that I can think of. Or, run your filter on someone else's tank while you are gone. This is granted that the tank is disease free.

 

[Hara]

I would feed a little less than you would feed the fish, yes. The flake food breaking down in smaller quantities throughout the entire time would keep your tank at par, or close to it.

 

[bigtard]

You could put a piece of raw shrimp in the tank to keep it cycled.

Do you think that would be enough for a month?

 

[rich311k]

You can cycle a tank with a raw shrimp. It will last a month. Just be prepared for the mess and the smell.

 

[Crusis]

Hehe... the great smell of one month old decayed shrimp flesh. Yum!

 

[bigtard]

I think I'll just have my auto feeder dump a little flake in there and see whether that works out.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

Maybe add a little freeze-dried bloodworms and freeze-dried brine shrimp to the flakes too, but lightly.

 

[bigtard]

It looks like everything worked. I just fed my empty tank flakes with my auto feeder.

I had no ammonia or nitrites. I had about 40 ppm nitrates. I did a good water change before I left, so if there were no bacteria in the tank, we'd expect there to have been a high level of ammonia, but there was none.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

cool, that's good to hear.....

 

[sherry]

you know you are hooked when...

You go on vacation and do everything you can to make sure your bacteria are fed.

You know you are hooked when,

You read these posts and nod in understanding.

You know you are hooked when,

You read the result and think COOOL!!

 

[An t-iasg]

Yes, good to hear...sounds like you had a good Friday the 13th!