Wanting to keep cycled, fishless QT "fed"

[Fallguy44]

I will be treating some fish in my QT soon but once it goes fishless, I want to keep the bacteria alive and keep the tank active for emergencies and new fish. I have some leftover pure ammonia from my fishless cycle days with African Cichlids, I am just not sure how much and how often I should add to keep it cycled?

 

[Brew12]

I will be treating some fish in my QT soon but once it goes fishless, I want to keep the bacteria alive and keep the tank active for emergencies and new fish. I have some leftover pure ammonia from my fishless cycle days with African Cichlids, I am just not sure how much and how often I should add to keep it cycled?

I would add something every 2 or 3 months.

 

[Fallguy44]

I would add something every 2 or 3 months.

Yes, trying to figure out how much. Even if a few drops every couple of weeks etc

 

[brandon429]

if you feed a lot of supports, the bac will live and still regulate themselves as normal colonies do in nature only you'll have lots extra organics in the tank possibly doing what they do unrelated to your bac issues

if you feed a little of something, the bac eat it and not much extra happens on the organic side

if you feed nothing and just keep the tank wet, absolutely nothing changes in the bacteria as they get food without your help unless you are reefing in a micro lab, really that's how it is :)

its ok to feed or not. we have a particular thread at nano reef.com that shows ammonia digest testing in a fallow setup that was running about 24 mos or so unfed with only water changes, amazing length of time for someone to test that. user/dandelion.


aquarists will not accept that what they add or not add wont affect seated bacteria, surface area presentation is what modulates them greatest, aquarists must add feed to the tank to ease their own concerns the bacteria are independent of how weird it feels to not feed a reef aquarium for three months. <--- that detail matters not in the big scheme... its just fun to detail exactly what bac tolerate and not so that we know how far we can take a tank cleaning thread into excessiveness without causing a recycle, from loss of bacteria. they're so tough even massive peroxide overdoses didn't harm em, such resilience.


your live rock animals, benthic mobile creatures, sponges if applic, they want feed and as a side benefit from keeping those animals plump, bacteria are still doing what they do.

 

[Brew12]

if you feed a lot of supports, the bac will live and still regulate themselves as normal colonies do in nature only you'll have lots extra organics in the tank possibly doing what they do unrelated to your bac issues

if you feed a little of something, the bac eat it and not much extra happens on the organic side

if you feed nothing and just keep the tank wet, absolutely nothing changes in the bacteria as they get food without your help unless you are reefing in a micro lab, really that's how it is :)

its ok to feed or not. we have a particular thread at nano reef.com that shows ammonia digest testing in a fallow setup that was running about 24 mos or so unfed with only water changes, amazing length of time for someone to test that. user/dandelion.


aquarists will not accept that what they add or not add wont affect seated bacteria, surface area presentation is what modulates them greatest, aquarists must add feed to the tank to ease their own concerns the bacteria are independent of how weird it feels to not feed a reef aquarium for three months.


your live rock animals, benthic mobile creatures, sponges if applic, they want feed and as a side benefit from keeping those animals plump, bacteria are still doing what they do.

Since this is a QT, I don't think this applies. But to the OP, if you have this QT set up with live rock, you don't to feed it. If it is the typical bare bottom with PVC fittings it is a good idea.

Yes, trying to figure out how much. Even if a few drops every couple of weeks etc

I would dose it up to 0.25 to 0.5 every other month. Not sure your QT size or the concentration of the ammonia.

 

[Fallguy44]

Since this is a QT, I don't think this applies. But to the OP, if you have this QT set up with live rock, you don't to feed it. If it is the typical bare bottom with PVC fittings it is a good idea.



I would dose it up to 0.25 to 0.5 every other month. Not sure your QT size or the concentration of the ammonia.

Yeah sorry, should have mentioned. 29 gallons. PVC bare bottom.

 

[blkhwkz]

I will be treating some fish in my QT soon but once it goes fishless, I want to keep the bacteria alive and keep the tank active for emergencies and new fish. I have some leftover pure ammonia from my fishless cycle days with African Cichlids, I am just not sure how much and how often I should add to keep it cycled?

I would read this and keep the info in mind if you decide to keep the QT up long term
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/qt-and-biofilm.292878/