Fishless Cycle Question

[craig855s]

I have just started a fishless cycle (using mature media that may have died off) and tetra safe start (that wasnt refridgerated in the shop i got it from) so i think i may as well be starting from scratch.

Now i am going away for 4 or 5 days in 10 days and dont want my progress to be lost while im away so dont want the tank to run out of ammonia..How quickly does the filter process 5PPM of ammonia 15 days into the cycle? will it take days or just one or two? if it does take 2 days the filter will be starved for 2-3 days then which will make all the bacteria die then wont it? so could i put 8 or 10PPM of ammonia in the day i leave? or would that overwhelm the bacteria and cause the cycle to be ruined?

HELP please

 

[Bignose]

Yes you can have too much ammonia. Too much ammonia will actually start to be toxic to your bacterial colony and will start to spur growth of a different species of bacteria. Then, when you put fish in, that new strain won't be able to survive on the much lesser ammonia levels, so they die off and you are once again waiting on the typical home aquaria ammonia strains growing.

5 ppm is a good number. Even the most heavily stocked tanks won't be producing more than about 3.5 ppm of ammonia per day, so 5 gives you a good cushion and yet isn't so high to start to choke off the home aquaria species of bacteria.