Fast cycle restart?

[cizkaro]

I had a catastrophe with my water quality awhile back so I drained my aquarium and refilled it. It was previously cycled. After refilling the tank and reacclimating my fish I expected a long cycle to begin again. Day 2 my ammonia spiked to .5 on day 3 it was .25. My nitrites have remained at 0 the entire time. Today my ammonia is 0 my nitrites are 0 and my nitrates are somewhere between 40-80ppm (i say 40-80 because I see no describable difference in the colors for 40 and 80 on my test kit) Is it really possible since I never cleaned my filters or my substrate that it has regained its cycle in 4 days? Or that maybe I never lost my cycle?

 

[OwduaNM]

There are experts on here that know better than I, but from what I have read the beneficial bacteria live on the substrate and in the filter media, so draining the tank for a short period of time will not effect them. That's why doing large water changes is not a major risk for your fish.

 

[threnjen]

The bacteria don't live in the water column. They will only die if they dry out. They don't mind being starved for a few days. So if the filter remained wet, you're fine.

 

[Krogman]

I have been fish less for two whole days and will potentially be fish less for another 10 days. Do I need to feed my bb or will they be ok till I get fish

 

[mrvincent]

If you made a water change and you instant got a ammonia spike, you should test the tap water for ammonia. Note that .25ppm ammonia is not that bad, fish can easily survive in these conditions, but harder for shrimps.

 

[mrvincent]

I have been fish less for two whole days and will potentially be fish less for another 10 days. Do I need to feed my bb or will they be ok till I get fish

Yes, their amount will go down until they have more ammonia. I keep my fishless QT tank cycled with my GF betta.

 

[cfosgate]

I would add ammonia (ACE Hardware has a janitorial with nothing else in it) and dose up to 2ppm daily to keep bacteria healthy until you get fish. I once heard of a fellow using urine to keep his tank cycled (just saying).

 

[Krogman]

Crazy that I just read about that. It was talking about how the bb just want ammonia, they don't care about the source. I will be getting some ammonia today and hopefully a dropper and more test tubes-4 just isn't working well.

 

[Ringoffire]

Yes, their amount will go down until they have more ammonia. I keep my fishless QT tank cycled with my GF betta.

I was wondering about using a betta to keep a QT tank cycled. But curious as to how? Do you move betta out while housing other fish or just put in tank separator? What is your process mrvincent?

 

[cfosgate]

I keep my QT tank uncycled. I have an extra sponge filter in 3 tanks so when I need a hospital or QT tank I simply move an already cycled sponge filter over. and