deliberate stall in fishless cycle

[James_in_MN]

Suppose you were fishless cycling a tank, and it was over 1/2 way complete. Ammonia constantly back toward zero after re-dosing the tank, and nitrItes around 4ppm.

Now, let's suppose you had to leave town for around a week.

How long will the ammonia-eating bacteria live without the continued ammonia dosing? If not long, how much could you actually set yourself back by not adding a continual method of ammonia production in your tank?

 

[Kat1103]

having a similar problem in my tank....

 

[TraceyB4602]

Put a piece of raw shrimp in there it will keep the ammonia going for the short time your gone

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[jsoong]

Yep, you need to keep feeding the tank or the bacteria start to die off. You can skip a day, but a week is too long. At the end of a week, you might have to start from scratch.

A raw shrimp or 2 is one way of providing the ammonia source, although it can be smelly! you can also throw in a pinch of fish food a day. <Get an auto feeder.> One bonus is that the cycle will continue when you are gone, and might even be complete when you are back.