After a FISHLESS cycle....

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

hey all , once a fish less cycle is complete , how often should the tank continue to be dosed with ammonia to keep bacteria in tank alive. And how much ammonia . My tank is through its cycle , but at the moment I have no fish , so to keep my bacteria Alive , I have been dosing 1-2 ML of ammonia daily . This is causing my nitrates to be skyyyyy high! So I am doing small 20% water changes that I started yesterday until I add a fish. Most likely this weekend.

cromag27 · Sep 27, 2016

You're fine. the bacteria population won't go away if you stop dosing. I'd do one big water change to get the no3 down.

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

cromag08 said:
You're fine. the bacteria population won't go away if you stop dosing. I'd do one big water change to get the no3 down.

Just don't want the bacteria to starve off !

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

cromag08 said:
You're fine. the bacteria population won't go away if you stop dosing. I'd do one big water change to get the no3 down.

50% water change maybe. I'm using API to check nitrates . I have better nitrate test kit that I should use because API is always off.

cromag27 · Sep 27, 2016

Api will work for now. you'll want someone more accurate if you start to introduce corals. yes, I would do a 50% and test again. how did you do this fishless cycle?

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

cromag08 said:
Api will work for now. you'll want someone more accurate if you start to introduce corals. yes, I would do a 50% and test again. how did you do this fishless cycle?

Tank was setup with 100% liverock with a bunch of coraline on it. Dosed a bottle of biospira rated for 75 gallon tank into tank , and next day ammonia was dropping from 4ppm to 0 then the following day nitrite was doing the same. I've still continued small doses of ammonia.

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

cromag08 said:
Api will work for now. you'll want someone more accurate if you start to introduce corals. yes, I would do a 50% and test again. how did you do this fishless cycle?

I've been looking everywhere locally for a pair of clowns.

brandon429 · Sep 27, 2016

those rocks never needed to cycle for bacteria support or additions although adding more bac didn't hurt, we do that when we stick hands in the tank just the same.

Good call above, no feeding is needed as aquarists can't cause sterility in submerged contaminated surfaces just by holding back direct feed. bac feed still gets in.

lion king · Sep 27, 2016

I kept my 40b qt running for a couple of years by dosing up to 1ppm ammonia once a week when I didn't have any fish.

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

lion king said:
I kept my 40b qt running for a couple of years by dosing up to 1ppm ammonia once a week when I didn't have any fish.

I guess 1 ppm a week would work just to be sure

Ryan Rioux · Sep 27, 2016

Maybe one of you will know ... I have a small jebao pp4 wave maker in the 20 long. What is the weakest setting for it. It's a bit powerful for 20 gallon

Shaun Sweeney · Sep 28, 2016

I've got a bunch of live rock sitting in a 40 gallon tank with no fish. It may have to sit fishless for a few more weeks and in the meantime, I'm keeping salinity and temp up and monitoring dkh. So far so good but now I'm wondering about ammonia. Should I be dosing?

Ryan Rioux · Sep 28, 2016

Shaun Sweeney said:
I've got a bunch of live rock sitting in a 40 gallon tank with no fish. It may have to sit fishless for a few more weeks and in the meantime, I'm keeping salinity and temp up and monitoring dkh. So far so good but now I'm wondering about ammonia. Should I be dosing?

I guess people have different opinions . Some say don't some say do. Maybe take the guy above a advice and dose 1ml a week to keep bacteria alive .

lion king · Sep 28, 2016

Dosing my tank once a week kept me confident that when I was ready to add a fish or two the biological filter would be up to the task, and I wouldn't get an ammonia spike when I added a bioload.

As far as that jebae powerhead a 20 long could take it on full blast. But it all depends on what you are putting in it, you'll have to play with depending on the corals and even fish. Some like alot of flow, some not so much.

Brew12 · Sep 28, 2016

lion king said:
Dosing my tank once a week kept me confident that when I was ready to add a fish or two the biological filter would be up to the task, and I wouldn't get an ammonia spike when I added a bioload.

As far as that jebae powerhead a 20 long could take it on full blast. But it all depends on what you are putting in it, you'll have to play with depending on the corals and even fish. Some like alot of flow, some not so much.

Your aquascape will also impact how much flow your tank needs.

Ryan Rioux · Sep 28, 2016

lion king said:
Dosing my tank once a week kept me confident that when I was ready to add a fish or two the biological filter would be up to the task, and I wouldn't get an ammonia spike when I added a bioload.

As far as that jebae powerhead a 20 long could take it on full blast. But it all depends on what you are putting in it, you'll have to play with depending on the corals and even fish. Some like alot of flow, some not so much.

Couple of clowns , Royal gramma , not sure what else ! The jebao at full speed and power seems powerful, I had to put it as slow as possible on w1. Sort of makes top of water choppy. There's another mode called else that I might give a shot . I may at some point have room for another fish. Just not sure what I would choose .