Keeping QT Tanks Cycled

[piranhaman00]

Hi all, I have another ridiculous question.

Im trying to keep two QT tanks cycled while they are empty. Im hoping to only had one more round of fish so hopefully wont have to do this for long. I was adding flakes to the tank to "ghost feed" but the flakes broke down and created detritus on the bottom of the tank. I was adding a very little flakes but I didnt like doing that. I am now adding ammonium chloride each day. I am adding one drop which is supposed to be 0.05mL, which at 40mg/mL, will bring my 28 gallons and 20 gallon to approximately 0.018ppm and 0.025ppm respectively.

Anybody have any input if this dosing this daily will keep the tank maturely cycled ready for a somewhat heavy bioload at any given time? Im curious as to what amount of ammonia is converted daily in the average tank, any ideas? I will be adding 4 anthias to the 29 gallon, what type of ammonia would be created in a 24 hr period by 4 fish?

I realize these questions dont really have a definite answer but any ideas to get me thinking? Thanks!

 

[brandon429]

Nobody has ever measured this in reefing, whether or not they’d starve if you added none. It’s all guessing. I claim the bac would live if you fed them nothing, as they’d access feed in the ways bacteria have fed before humans were on scene. anything you add whatsoever will feed them excessively.

nobody has made a simple experiment to see if fed bacteria can then be starved, everyone assumes humans control bacteria by their offers or withholdings. Lab techs charged with creating clean surfaces are among the groups of people who do not believe that notion

 

[lapin]

You can always do big water changes to reduce ammonia if you see it climb.
Because I do the TTM method I dont have an ammonia issue.

 

[brandon429]

What is your provided surface area, a sponge? The feeding isn’t important it’s the degree of surface area allowed for the tank

to assess ability to carry fish, I would change water in the tank so you can get a calibrated zero ammonia reading on a tester and a known zero ammonia base. Dose to 2 ppm, well above a few fish, if it moves down discernibly overnite the system will handle some fish fine during qt. Re change water and begin qt is how I would arrange it

 

[piranhaman00]

Nobody has ever measured this in reefing, whether or not they’d starve if you added none. It’s all guessing. I claim the bac would live if you fed them nothing, as they’d access feed in the ways bacteria have fed before humans were on scene. anything you add whatsoever will feed them excessively.

nobody has made a simple experiment to see if fed bacteria can then be starved, everyone assumes humans control bacteria by their offers or withholdings. Lab techs charged with creating clean surfaces are among the groups of people who do not believe that notion

IMO they absolutely will die without a nitrogen source. If I were to cycle a tank with some large tangs or some messy fish but then remove them and add just a small chromis, the bacterial population would die off to only sustain the chromis. Maybe they dont die but go dormant until a nitrogen source is available again. I want the microbial population to be ready for action at all times!

I guess my question is what is this level? How much ammonia can a microbial population handle? I want to be able to at any time add a huge bioload to this tank and it have the bacterial population to handle in. Again this question is remote but I wanted input like yours, so thank you!

You can always do big water changes to reduce ammonia if you see it climb.
Because I do the TTM method I dont have an ammonia issue.

Too much work, and I am not home often enough to catch ammonia swings. But this is always a way to handle it, thanks!

What is your provided surface area, a sponge? The feeding isn’t important it’s the degree of surface area allowed for the tank

to assess ability to carry fish, I would change water in the tank so you can get a calibrated zero ammonia reading on a tester and a known zero ammonia base. Dose to 2 ppm, well above a few fish, if it moves down discernibly overnite the system will handle some fish fine during qt. Re change water and begin qt is how I would arrange it

This is what I was looking for! Great idea as to see how much ammonia the tank can handle, thank you! I will try this after getting a more accurate ammonia test kit.

I actually have two ac50s only filled with seachem matrix and a sponge on the 29 lol, its probably enough biofiltration for a tank 5x the size.



Thanks for the input!

 

[CindyKz]

I keep a cycled QT tank. No ghost feeding. There's usually a very small CUC in there (one or 2 hermits) who I throw a couple of pellets to when I remember. I've never had an ammonia problem, even after letting it sit for months between fish.

*Note, this isn't a sterile QT tank for meds but a fully cycled observation tank with rocks and sand.

 

[cmoore806]

you must not prophylactically dose copper?

 

[brandon429]

In no way will the dieoff stated above happen.

I have 3 year fallow test threads handy, and 2 year ones from nano reef.com (feedless for 36 mos, then dose to 2 ppm it passes like was fed whole time)

to not feed them is merely what cycling nerds do to prove old tenets wrong, there's no harm in offering a pinch of feed time to time. bacteria get feed in ways unaccounted for by aquarists by and large.

*in the chem forum we should be measuring claims made. someone bring up a sponge system and prove it can lower ammonia, lets starve it for 3 mos and see if it still can. fun

 

[piranhaman00]

you must not prophylactically dose copper?

I do