Fishless cycling with food?

[Fishy monkey]

I've been fishless cycling my QT for the past 3 weeks, I can't find anywhere that sells pure ammonia so I've been using crushed food flakes. A page I looked at said not to do water changes in fishless cycles til its complete, but that was talking about ammonia dosed cycling.

Should I be doing water changes and removing the flakes during the cycle?

And is it really important to get the ammonia up to 4ppm?
I'm doing a fish in cycle on my other tank so would never be able to let the ammonia go above 0.25, so I'm a bit puzzled about the info on fishless saying 4ppm.

Thanks for any help

 

[jlk]

What size is this tank? Fishless cycling to 4ppm is meant to be overkill so a tank can handle fully stocking at once. Using fish food though is a bit difficult because you can not accurately 'dose' ammonia and the fish food needs to decompose first before it serves as a source of ammonia. Water changes in a fishless cycle (no matter what the ammonia source) are only necessary if your ph starts to drop, your ammonia levels get too high, your nitrites get too high or before adding fish. As this is only a qt tank and will likely never be fully stocked, I would try to keep your ammonia level @1-2ppm. If its higher than this, no big deal but you need to atleast have it cycled to be able to carry the bioload of a some fish.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Thanks jlk, it's a 60 litre.

The other tank that I'm doing a fish in cycle with is 165 litres, will I not be able to fully stock that one since I can't let the ammonia go above 0.25?

 

[jlk]

You wont be able to stock your fish-in tank at once. Once its fully cycled, you will have to take your time and add new stock gradually over weeks. With each new fish addition, you have to give your bacteria a chance to adjust upwards (atleast a wk or 2) to the increased bioload before adding more new fish. You will have to have some patience with this tank, I am afraid to say!

 

[Fishy monkey]

That's fine, any new fish will be quarantined for 4 weeks anyway, and I had planned on 12 months to fully stock.

Thanks for your help

 

[Fishy monkey]

You wont be able to stock your fish-in tank at once. Once its fully cycled, you will have to take your time and add new stock gradually over weeks. With each new fish addition, you have to give your bacteria a chance to adjust upwards (atleast a wk or 2) to the increased bioload before adding more new fish. You will have to have some patience with this tank, I am afraid to say!

Been thinking, would I be ok transferring my pearl danios into the QT when it's cycled then doing a fishless with food cycle in my main tank? Or would it be too much upheaval for them?

 

[jlk]

Honestly, its up to you and how you would like to handle things. If you want to move them and they wind up being very stressed, you can always do a big water change and move them back into your main tank at any point.

 

[Fishy monkey]

Honestly, its up to you and how you would like to handle things. If you want to move them and they wind up being very stressed, you can always do a big water change and move them back into your main tank at any point.

Ok, I think I'll do that then. Thanks lots jlk