Cycling While Away?

[Geoff1991]

Well, im going on holiday on the 20th of june and im not sure if my cycle will be done by then...

Just in case, how can i keep my ammonia up while im gone?

 

[waterdrop]

Top choice is hire a neighbor kid in the right age range to get interested in "scientific stuff," lol.

 

[Geoff1991]

Not possible, i dont trust my neighbours to do it...

 

[waterdrop]

Naw, you're kidding? Not any kids in early teens that are different from the pack?

 

[Curiosity101]

Only thing I can think of is one of those holiday food blocks. They're killers to fish while you're away as they pollute the water. But in theory this is what you want...

 

[Geoff1991]

Hmm...

I havent a clue. Ill just hope its done and worry about it later.

 

[Curiosity101]

It'll un cycle though if there is no form of ammonia being added.

 

[Geoff1991]

Yeah, what i meant was, since im currently dropping from 5ppm of ammonia to zero in under 24 hours, ill just hope thats its done and i can stock up before i go.

That may not be the best of ideas though, ill have a think.

 

[gaz gun man]

Yeah, what i meant was, since im currently dropping from 5ppm of ammonia to zero in under 24 hours, ill just hope thats its done and i can stock up before i go.

That may not be the best of ideas though, ill have a think.

it wont be, as you wont be able to monitor ammonia/nitrite for any spikes.

Also unless you've QT the fish yourself theres always the risk of infection/disease brought on by the move from the LFS to your tank

 

[Curiosity101]

I've just had another idea.
You know how people tend to drip acclimatise certain fish and inverts. Set up your own version, but with ammonia in the bucket dripping into the tank.
It'll be a bit of a faff getting the drip rate correct to keep ammonia levels correct. But it'd be cheap and effective!

 

[Geoff1991]

Thats a good idea actually... But i reckon a couple of drops a day would be hard to achive.

Ive read putting a prawn in a mesh bag or something works. True?

 

[Curiosity101]

Same theory as my idea of adding one of those holiday fish feeder blocks. The food (in this case prawn), will decompose whilst you are away giving off ammonia. The only problem is you'd have no idea exactly how much ammonia your filter had been cycling whilst you were away. You'd just have to remove the prawn when you got home, test the water. If ammonia is at 0 then add your normal amount to give 5ppm and see how long it takes to cycle.

 

[Geoff1991]

The feeding block seems my best option at the moment, since ive got 2 weeks before i go, i may put one in and keep testing the water as i guess i could break it in half or something to reduce the amount of ammonia...

 

[waterdrop]

Its actually a hard call in my mind between the different kinds of feeding blocks and prawns in my mind. We've had some actual cases here of vacations where the prawns worked out successfully. The circumstances were not the same though, works better if you are at the -beginning- of your fishless cycle when the vacation occurs...

wd

 

[Geoff1991]

I did see somewhere that using prawns can allow and infection in a tank... Cant find it now though, began with an S...

Edit: Found it

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&showtopic=286473&view=findpost&p=2366885"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?s=&amp...t&p=2366885[/URL]