What Do I Do?

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay, thank you so much I was just wondering as I couldn't really find it anywhere!
The only thing is that I will have to wait till after my holiday to add the fish since I live rather rural so I don't think any of my friends really want to drive like 10 minutes just to feed some fish lol! But yeah, how high do you think I could raise the ammonia to (like above 5 ppm) that would still be beneficial? And (relating back to that last question) could you ever add too much ammonia?
Thank you for all your help so far and sorry about all the questions!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

The questions is why we are all here.  No sense keeping all this information to ourselves.
 
5ppm is generally considered as high as you want the ammonia to go, as at higher levels you start to encourage the wrong types of bacteria and discourage the right types.
 
Something else to keep in mind for the future, fish don't need to eat every day.  Having live plants is a good option, for a variety of reasons, but with freshwater fish, many will graze on the plants (either eating the plants or eating microorganisms off the leaves) normally in the wild.  I've left my community of fish with NO food for up to a week with no harm done.  The fish don't need nearly as much food as the aquarist provides.  They would spend the vast majority of their day searching for food in the wild.  In the home aquarium, its provided on a silver platter.  And the food we feed is highly packed with nutrients, etc.  The don't need much to be satisfied, but will eat as long as the food is available, generally.
 
So, if you are going on a 3 -5 day journey, just leave the tank be.  And they will be fine.  I generally fast my fish one or two days a week even when I am around.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Eagle- pretty much hit it on the head. I doubt the bacteria will even have enough time to go dormant however as you will be back and adding some ammonia by then. They will still have oxygen and carbon. Even if they do start to snooze, the time is so short it wont matter a lot as they will revive rapidly.
 
I would not throw in a shrimp. I am not a fan of this sort of method to feed the bacteria as the side effects of rotting stuff are usually unwanted.
 
I suggest before you leave you add maybe 2 ppm of ammonia and do nothing more. When you return, dose 2 ppm, wait 24 hours and test ammonia and nitrite. If they are both not 0, wait until they are and repeat the 2 ppm dose and the 24 hour wait and test. I would expect you get back to 0/0 pretty fast.
 
Bear in mind that even going slowly the bacteria colonies should ramp up pretty fast since you are pretty much cycled now.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay, so your saying not adding any food while I'm away would be okay? What would be a good temp for the tank to be at for the bacteria while I'm away?

 

[eaglesaquarium]

I wouldn't change it.  Leave it where you are cycling. 

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay, I read that 27 °C is a good temp, is that right? I will be keeping my fish at 25°C.

 

[eaglesaquarium]

You can go as high as 29-30C and get a benefit, but you can cycle at any (reasonable) temperature.  The higher temps like this are preferred, but not required.  When doing a fish-in cycle, you keep the temp at the level for the fish.  You could go with anywhere from 25-30C and it'll be fine.  For the utmost speed in cycling 29-30C is preferred for max growth of the colony.  But even at 25C you'll get good growth.

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Hmm okay, I'll probably just keep it at 25°C because well really I want the cycle to be rather slow, considering I don't want to be feeding ammonia to a fully cycled tank for a month!

 

[Blondielovesfish]

Okay I've been thinking...lol.
I might cycle my tank (fishless) using the mature media from my 21L and then put some Neon tetras in once its finished cycling. I will probably only out the Neons in and then add more later.
The only thing is...What do I do while I'm on holiday? It's nine days so what do I do about feeding? I can't get anybody in to feed them as I live rural. So my options are: Feeding Block, automatic feeder or just don't do anything and only feed them just as I leave and again as soon as I arrive home. Any other suggestions?
Thanks