Cycling And Bio Load Question

[mwood2]

well as I started a fishless cycle on my 5 gallon almost a week ago I got to thinking. All I plan to have in the tank is 2-3 ADF, Snails and maybe 1-2 fish. Would I be needing a full cycle still or perhaps can I get away with half a cycle, water changes till stats are 0 and then be done. I know Im being kinda cheepish byt I feel taht its to hard to feed my ADF in the other 5 gallon with my puffer since they seem to ignore food or fight my puffer for it (although they win and the puffer dosent fight back). There is no aggression from my puffer at all so Im not worried about him at all. I am considering trying 2 puffer in a 5 gallon in a month or so BUT plan to leave room in my other 5 gallon just in case that doesn't work. I also plan to decorate the tank more and take care of the algae problem.

So back to topic on hand, how long do you think I should wait? A month or so the full cycle or just wait 1-2 weeks more and just have snails and frogs only for awhile once the cycle can handle them?

 

[backtotropical]

I'd say you need to do a full cycle, because otherwise your stock will be subjected to ammonia poisoning when they are added to the tank.

If you plan to stock lightly as you say, you could reduce the amount of ammonia to maybe 1 or 2ppm which would obviously be quicker to cycle than using the usual 5ppm.

Good luck!!

BTT