Cycling while on vacation

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Mcgolg76

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Aug 7, 2013
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In the process of cycling my first salt water tank. Tonight the nitrites finally read zero. But going on vacation on sat for a week. I don't want to stock till I get back.
The way I cycled was with 40lbs of uncured dry rock and about 5lbs of live rock from my lfs. Didn't use live sand. The dry rock had a lot of dead looking stuff on it that I didn't scrub. That stuff was enough to get me cycled.
Should I do anything before vacation so my bacteria doesn't starve when I go away. Is that dead stuff still making ammonia and will continue till I get back. Would adding a coctail shrimp before I leave help or not be necessary. My nitrates are through the roof right now. So high that I can't even tell what it is. When should I do the major water changes. Should I wait till I get back from vacation to do wc till my nitrates become accessible?

Ty


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I think a long vacation letting the tank do it's thing will serve you well. Enjoy your vacation and let nature take it's course. Your tank should be ready to go when you get back. Patience is key and being away on vacation while your tank finishes cycling doesn't sound like a bad idea at all.
 
I'd add an ammonia source to keep the bb fed, a week without anything to fuel the bb and you may end up having to re-cycle the tank when you return.
 
Lol vacation does help the waiting. Enough work for my fish feeder to do when gone with my 4 fw tanks. So my plan is to drop a shrimp in before vacation. Then wc to lower my nitrates


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