When To Stop Cycling?

[AmyStardust]

Hi!

When do I stop cycling my tank??

Do I need to cycle for a certain amount of time or stop when I have no ammonia??

Just did a fresh batch of water tests -

Nitrate - 10
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0

Any advice would be great!!

 

[waterdrop]

forgot. Are you fishless or fish-in??

 

[AmyStardust]

forgot. Are you fishless or fish-in??

Oh yeah - Lol!

I'm fish-in!!

 

[waterdrop]

OK, the test for the end of a fish-in cycle is easy. You are going along and measuring your ammonia and nitrite levels with a liquid-based test type and usually doing frequent water changes to keep things below 0.25. Well, one day you will test, expecting to see some nitrite or some ammonia and instead you will get zero for both, so that day you don't do a water change. If you can go two days with no water changes and still get pure zero stats on both days then you can feel you have finally completed your fish-in cycle. Of course, you will still keep doing your morning and evening tests for both toxins for the whole next week but you should keep seeing zeros and not having to do water changes and then you can ease off the frequency of water tests and consider yourself cycled. Any adding of new fish should still wait a couple weeks and even then should be very small additions each time after that, and the 1 inch / gallon guideline should be followed of course.

~~waterdrop~~

 

[OldMan47]

With fish in the tank you need to continue forever watching your cycle. You may be able to ease up on water changes somewhat if the water parameters stay good for you. When you begin to look at adding fish, try to keep in mind how many you have now and how big they are. Try to keep your new additions to less than a third of the existing biological load and wait at least a week in between additions. That way you will give the biological filter enough time to keep up without a serious ammonia or nitrite spike happening. Your filter will continue to mature and improve with time but it is just a matter of it adjusting to changing condtions after the initial cycle has completed and the filter is mature enough not to need constant attention.

 

[Nick16]

what is the tank size and whats the stocking m8?

 

[AmyStardust]

I have a 17 litre tank with 2 Platy's and 4 Ghost Shrimp at the mo!

Looking to add 4 or 5 Neon Tetra's at some point to complete the family!!

 

[Corleone]

Not enough space in 5 gallons for a shoal of neons, I'm afraid, particularly with two platys. Provided both platys are the same sex and there's no worry about fry overrunning you, 2, maybe 3 male guppies should fit if you wait a couple months for the biofilter to fill out and stabilize.

 

[LauraFrog]

Agreed, you would be pushing it with that many fish in a 4 gallon tank and neons prefer a pretty large school. I'd stick with fish that don't require schools, guppies are a good suggestion but you could also consider Endlers' livebearer which is smaller and prettier.