Adding Ammonia

[sirichmond]

Hello,

New tank been in a week on tuesday but not added any ammonia yet and no sign of cycle starting. Is it worth starting to add ammonia now, we go on holiday for a week on the 13th May or wait until we get back before doing it and just leave it alone for the time being?

Cheers
Simon

 

[waterdrop]

There was some other guy on here just recently who was going on vacation and the plants died or he left something in the tank, can't remember, but it ended up doing a very nice cycle on his tank and he never had to fret over anything -- I seem to remember oldman47 or one of the members responding to him

I don't know, can anyone else remember which thread this was?

 

[OldMan47]

I would leave the cycling until you can be there to monitor it. You have no cycle at the moment to try to maintain so it will hurt nothing to just leave it. Once you start, you will want to keep things going and watch the progress so not a good idea to be gone. We have had people try to leave in the middle and of course we will try to help bail them out of trouble but its not a desirable way to go.

 

[Rooster]

Any stock in there ? (fish or plants) If not, I would leave it until you return...

 

[waterdrop]

Yeah, despite that other case I mentioned, I agree with oldman47 and rooster that the best advice is to wait until after you get back.

 

[charlton]

i'm by no means an experienced fish keeper but would it be an idea to put some of the slow release food tablets i've seen in my lfs, would this not get things started while your away enjoying yourself ? Don't do this on my advise cos i'm only curious to ask the more experienced members !!!

cheers

charlton

 

[Rooster]

i'm by no means an experienced fish keeper but would it be an idea to put some of the slow release food tablets i've seen in my lfs, would this not get things started while your away enjoying yourself ? Don't do this on my advise cos i'm only curious to ask the more experienced members !!!

cheers

charlton

Good idea... BUT, this forum is littered with cases where folk tried to cut corners.... it 'might' work, but its so uncontrollable, I would advise not to !
You could be having fish for tens of years.... surely another couple of months (extreme example !) isnt too long to wait ? And if you want to CARE for aquatic life, rather than just "keep" it... its far kinder to do the job right.
If you must cut this corner, then chuck in a few cheap fish... but be prepared to be dissapointed.

 

[sirichmond]

Will leave it untilll we get back off holiday and see how it gets on without any help. There are plants allready in the tank.

 

[charlton]

i'm by no means an experienced fish keeper but would it be an idea to put some of the slow release food tablets i've seen in my lfs, would this not get things started while your away enjoying yourself ? Don't do this on my advise cos i'm only curious to ask the more experienced members !!!

cheers

charlton

Good idea... BUT, this forum is littered with cases where folk tried to cut corners.... it 'might' work, but its so uncontrollable, I would advise not to !
You could be having fish for tens of years.... surely another couple of months (extreme example !) isnt too long to wait ? And if you want to CARE for aquatic life, rather than just "keep" it... its far kinder to do the job right.
If you must cut this corner, then chuck in a few cheap fish... but be prepared to be dissapointed.

ok good point just an idea to get it started will they were away !! Makes sense for the sake of a few weeks to wait until they get back to make sure its all done properly though !!

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah exactly, for the sake or a couple of weeks wait i'd hold off and do it properly when you get back.

 

[sketchy]

Surely if you're going down the fishless route, then adding ammonia before you go will do no harm what so ever? The worst that could happen would be having to do a water change and start again from fresh a week down the line, best case you return to a half cycled tank?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thing is if you partly cycle the tank before going away then in a weeks holiday with no food source the bacteria will die off leaving you back at square one. however if you spend a few weeks trying to grow some bacteria you're not gonna want to give up on it you're gonna want to keep it alive. and whatever you do like adding food blocks to the tank is likley to end in disaster so really it's gonna be much less hassle to just wait and start when you're home and can dedicate time to it properly

 

[Rooster]

Why guess ? do it RIGHT, and wait....

 

[sirichmond]

Thanks for all the replys to this, we are going to leave it until we get back from our hols but keep checking the ammonia level until we go incase the cycle starts of its own accord.