QT - cycling (almost done), minimum ammonia to keep it going?

[Linwood]

I've got a big tank that I am starting soon, so decided it was time to do a quarantine tank for real. I have a 10G tank, moved some media over and a HOB filter, and a tiny amount of substrate.

Aside: I also wanted a few more Ramshorn snails, and to figure out what some mystery baby snails were (not Mystery Snails, but snails which were a mystery). So some grass with Ramshorn eggs went in along with 4 of these unknowns as tiny babies.

Dosed to 2ppm, maybe 3ppm occasionally, tank is starting to cycle (am getting nitrates, but nitrites are still high, ammonia is now gone each day).

I am not ready to put any fish in it yet, and want to just keep it alive, but don't want to drive myself nuts with water changes either.

What's a reasonable minimum ammonia to make sure the BB stays alive, but minimizes the amount processed into nitrates, so I can effectively put the tank "on hold" until I need it? Maybe 2 weeks.

Note: the tiny snails aren't generating enough to do anything real.

 

[Delapool]

The bb should last a few months and just go dormant but adding new fish can cause a mini-cycle in the QT (just when you don't want it). I just have some filter pad in the DT than can be put in the QT as needed.