Ack! I'm Going Out Of Town At The End Of My Fishless Cycle&#33

[Nerwign]

I've done it now. I started my fishless cycle on November 3rd and saw my first Nitrites on November 12th. At this point the tank is taking 4-5ppm of Ammonia down to 0 in 12 hours, and the Nitrites are off the chart. Nitrates are about 7ppm so far. I'm waiting for the Nitrites to drop down to 0 so I can do my 90% water change and add fish. I suspect this will happen around the 26th of November or a bit later.

OK so my problem is that I'm going out of town on the morning of the 22nd, not to return until the 27th! I have a pet-sitter coming to to top off my pet foods, but she's only coming out on the 24th and 26th.

My two thoughts:

1) Can I give the tank big doses of ammonia to "last" it through each 2 day period or will that kill all the Nitrites/Nitrates? (right now I'm addding it every 12 hours)

2) Can I get it as cycled as possible by the morning of the 22nd, then do a 90% water change, and put feeder cray-fish into the tank for the week. I have a bird who eats crayfish and so they would be truely feeder animals.

What are your thoughts? I really do not want to lose all my progress; I thought it would be just about done by now but my stage one of cycling lasted longer than I thought it would.

-Nerwign

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

I think that you would most likely be fine. I have kept established tanks empty for weeks at a time with no real problems and at worst, just a slight mini-cycle

I wouldnt put any crayfish or fish in the tank, especially if you are having someone else watch the tank. They could end up dying and I know I wouldnt trust someone else to not be scared or grossed out by having to pick up a dead crayfish.

If this was my tank, I would go to a LFS and pick up one of those filter media bags (they are the ones that are sort of like nylons), get myself four large shrimp from the grocery store and put them in the bag. I would then put the bag with shrimp in it in the tank weighed down with something so that it stays under water and go on vacation. The shrimp will feed the bacteria and will last for the week, if not longer.

 

[Nerwign]

My pet-sitter is tough, and could fish out dead craw fish but I'd rather not put them in if the conditions are likely to kill them.

I can just put some dead shrimp from the seafood market into the tank and it will be ok?? That would be wonderful!!

Anyone else have thoughts? I haven't heard of this before, though I guess it makes sense, bacteria eating dead stuff and all.

-Nerwign

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Using the shrimp or just feeding a tank with fish food even though there are no fish in the tank is another method of fishless cycling. Many people dont like it though since it is slower than dosing pure ammonia because the food obviously has to decay first in order to become a viable food for bacteria (at least the kind of bacteria you are looking to promote). It is a totally safe method though and it wont take long for the shrimp to become bacteria food. You may either cook it or not, I dont thik it makes all that much difference.

You are right, why risk killing some crayfish if you dont have to. Depending on your Ph, your current levels of nitrites and nitrates are toxic to fish and aquatic life in general (short of plants). The higher the Ph (which many tanks that are just starting out have), the more toxic ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are going to be.

Just put the shrimps into a bag or a nylon....anything that will make it easy to get them out of the tank without having to do something you find unpleasant.

 

[zoekin8yg]

I would just add some fish food to the tank, it will slowly break down while you are away and keep the bacteria alive

 

[Nerwign]

How do I know how much to put in for a 50 galon tank? Is there a thing as "too much" when putting dead shrimp or fish food into the tank?

-Nerwign

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Not really. Of course not so much that water doesnt fit in there anymore. The food will decay and become ammonia slowly. I would put maybe 1 large shrimp per 10 gallons. It might benifit you to have two bags with 5 shrimp in them, one for when you leave and one if your nice pet-sitter would be willing to put in the second bag half way through your vacation at one and a half weeks. Just make sure that it is under water at all times so that it doesnt get moldy or stink too badly. You could also just ask your pet sitter to feed the tank some flake food once a day. This will do the same as the shrimp but the drawback is many flake foods have phosphates and you could come back to a tank full of algea. Then again, three weeks is not so much time that MOST algea wouldnt be able to completely overgrow the tank.

 

[Nerwign]

I'll just be gone for 5-6 days so it sounds like one bag weighted down should suffice. Wonderful news. I was so worried!

-Nerwign

 

[Tommy Gunnz]

Oh yea, you will be good. Sorry, I thought you said three weeks. Must have been some where else I read that...so much information, so few brain cells left!

 

[Nerwign]

Ok so I followed the advice given above, which was basically that I could not have too many dead shrimp in my tank to keep feeding Ammonia into the water while I was gone for 5 days.

WELL... that was not exactly accurate.

I wanted to be safe so I put a big hand-full of rinsed dead shrimp into the tank, probably a dozen or so.

I came back after 5 days to find... well a stinky aquarium, and tiny green algae all over the surface of the water.

My test readings were as follows:
Ammonia: sky high
Nitrite: low
Nitrate: low

I did a 30% water change and let the tank sit overnight.
Readings the next morning:
Ammonia: sky high
Nitriate: low
Nitrate: low

I think the overdose of ammonia set me back in my cycle.

I did water changes and waited until the ammonia was out of the system (befor I went on vacation, the bacteria could take 4-5ppm Ammonia down to 0 in 12 hours).

Last night the readings were:
Ammonia: 4
Nitrite: sky high
(no test done for nitrates)

This morning:
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrite: sky high

So... even though when I got home the nitrite level was quite low, the tank had not finished cycling and had not had the normal "drop overnight" in nitrite to 0 levels.

Let this be a warning: Just like one or two dead fish in your tank can kill everyone else, you really only need 2-4 dead shrimp in your tank if you go away for a week(end) during your cycling.

<sigh>

-Nerwign