How long can you wait after the cycle finishes to add fish?

Michael Buchman

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Hey all,
New to the group, not completely new to the saltwater world. I'm starting my tank back up after about a 7 or 8 sabbatical. Started cycling my tank a couple of weeks ago with mysis shrimp and Seachem Stability. I'm nearing the end of cycle I believe, but may not be able to add fish for a couple weeks after it completes due to work and kid schedules. I have in the past driven to a LFS to purchase livestock, rather than order online and that is me current plan.
After searching here and online, I have not been able to find any real guidance. So I would be open to any information someone could give help me. Is there anything I would need to do with the tank to assure all the good bacteria remains and does not die off? One thing I was planning was to seed the tank with copepods before adding any fish, will they survive, what should I do to keep them going til fish show up.

My set up is a 46gal Bowfront with a 10 gallon sump (built by a LFS early 2000's). Main pump is a Jebao DCP-3000 pump, and I currently have 2 Koralia 600gph power heads and plan to add 2 eFlux 1050gph power heads in the week or so. 40lb. of Caribsea Aragalive Hawaiian Black sand and 50lbs. of AquaMaxx Eco-Rock Dry Live Rock. Added a bottle of ARC Pink Fusion Coralline algae. Current USA Orbit Marine IC Pro light, and have a Aqua C Remora HOB protein skimmer to add.
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Crabs McJones

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Welcome to R2R!
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Great looking setup :) once the cycle is finished you should be able to add fish right away, however, add them in slowly (1 or two at a time) if you add them all at once you can overload the tank and cause ammonia spikes
 

BestMomEver

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Welcome to R2R!
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Great looking setup :) once the cycle is finished you should be able to add fish right away, however, add them in slowly (1 or two at a time) if you add them all at once you can overload the tank and cause ammonia spikes
The OP can’t add fish right away. He needs to keep the tank alive until life settles down.
 

Crabs McJones

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The OP can’t add fish right away. He needs to keep the tank alive until life settles down.
From my understanding once the tank is cycled it means the bacterial colony has grown to a rate that it can process ammonia and break it down into nitrite and nitrate.
You can add a fish once the tank has completed its cycle.
 

BestMomEver

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From my understanding once the tank is cycled it means the bacterial colony has grown to a rate that it can process ammonia and break it down into nitrite and nitrate.
You can add a fish once the tank has completed its cycle.
Yes... but he wants to keep the tank alive until he’s able to add fish.... six months, for example. Can a tank stay alive for that length of time with nothing in it. Or maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. Are we talking about the same thing? :D
 

Crabs McJones

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The OP can’t add fish right away. He needs to keep the tank alive until life settles down.
I apologize. I misunderstood your post. Agree with ghost feeding until the fish show up :)
 

Crabs McJones

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Yes... but he wants to keep the tank alive until he’s able to add fish.... six months, for example. Can a tank stay alive for that length of time with nothing in it. Or maybe I’m misunderstanding your post. Are we talking about the same thing? :D
Yeah we wernt on the same page lol. Sorry about that :D
 

BestMomEver

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Yeah we wernt on the same page lol. Sorry about that :D
No apologies necessary. You’re one of those folks who’s opinion means a lot to me. I hesitated to say anything and was wondering if I’d gone crazy.
 

Crabs McJones

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No apologies necessary. You’re one of those folks who’s opinion means a lot to me. I hesitated to say anything and was wondering if I’d gone crazy.
Lol nope just crabs loosing his mind in his old age ;)
 

Eagle_Steve

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Welcome to R2R.

Ghost feeding the tank for a while will be fine. I have 500lbs of live rock in a tub in my garage with a few powerheads that has been ghost fed for over a year now. All the rock is still alive and the pod population booming lol. So no worries on a few months to keep the tank cycled. I would suggest though, do not throw 10 fish in there at once. A few small ones at a time should be ok though.
 

Bleigh

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Great tank! Add something occasionally that will produce ammonia to keep the bacteria fed. Once you start adding fish, just do it slowly so that the colonies will grow to accommodate their waste and not let it build up from a sudden influx.
 

Peace River

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Welcome to R2R.

Ghost feeding the tank for a while will be fine. I have 500lbs of live rock in a tub in my garage with a few powerheads that has been ghost fed for over a year now. All the rock is still alive and the pod population booming lol. So no worries on a few months to keep the tank cycled. I would suggest though, do not throw 10 fish in there at once. A few small ones at a time should be ok though.

+1. ...what he said!!!

Welcome to R2R!!! This is a really neat community even if some of us get confused and need to be nudged every once in a while! :)
 

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