How long will a takn stay cycled with no fish?

[Aqua315]

I'm going to start a 5g tank for my desk at work and get a dwarf puffer. I've had great success with Tetra SafeStart in the past so I was going to use that to cycle the tank. Problem is once I have the tank cycled, I may not be able to add the puffer right away. My LFS has them but they're not always in stock so I may need to wait a few days or up to a week before I can get one. Will the tank stay cycled in the meantime if there's no ammonia being produced? I have a betta at home that I could temporarily put in the tank but I'd rather not put him through the stress of moving back and forth.

 

[CalebZachary]

No ammonia= no cycle.

 

[Platiesareawesome]

I'm going to start a 5g tank for my desk at work and get a dwarf puffer. I've had great success with Tetra SafeStart in the past so I was going to use that to cycle the tank. Problem is once I have the tank cycled, I may not be able to add the puffer right away. My LFS has them but they're not always in stock so I may need to wait a few days or up to a week before I can get one. Will the tank stay cycled in the meantime if there's no ammonia being produced? I have a betta at home that I could temporarily put in the tank but I'd rather not put him through the stress of moving back and forth.

I would recommend you try to cycle your tank as normal even with tetra safe start. I did the same thing and tetra safe start sped up the cycle a lot. (Fish less is always best). I would also recommend you use pure bottled ammonia for the cycle (Ace Hardware has it). Once you cycle the tank, you can add 1 ppm of ammo every day until you get the puffer. If you can't do that, a few days without it shouldn't hurt, but you may have to deal with mini cycles if too much bacteria dies off. (Do a water change if levels are out of control). Hope this helps! Good luck!

 

[Platiesareawesome]

No ammonia= no cycle.

I'm not trying to be rude or cause a problem or anything, but I have to disagree with that. Sure, some of the beneficial bacteria may die off, but the majority of the bacteria can go awhile without ammonia.

 

[CalebZachary]

If you say so.

 

[Chiz]

I'm not trying to be rude or cause a problem or anything, but I have to disagree with that. Sure, some of the beneficial bacteria may die off, but the majority of the bacteria can go awhile without ammonia.

Ammonia is what the bacteria feed on, right? How long can bacteria go without "eating," do you know?

 

[bud29]

BB can definitely last a few days without ammonia, up to a week max. Depending on how long they take to get in stock you may be OK. To be safe, add a bit of ammonia every few days. It won't hurt anything, and will keep your biofilter fresh. Just do a large water change before adding the puffer.