Fishless Cycle

[winterpeg]

Couple of questions.

Should my heater be on during the cycling?

My water level is starting to go down(5 gallon tank) is there any harm if I add some more water to the tank, I will treat the water before putting it in the tank.

 

[snazy]

Yes, the heater should be on during cycling as the bacteria is as sensitive as the fish to temperatures and actually the higher the temperature, the better for the cycle. You can up it to 28-30C for faster cycle. You can put it sideways somehow instead and there's no problem adding dechlorinated/temperature matched water.
As for the water level, why does it go down? Is the tank covered or uncovered as you don't want water to evaporate easily from a tank and you need to address that.

 

[winterpeg]

The tank is covered but like I said it is only a 5 gallon tank so losing a little water make it seems like the water is going down alot. The reason I asked because my water is below the water line on my heater so i turned the heater off but if I can add more water I can turn the heater back on.

 

[snazy]

Mmm, that's dangerous if you are not around. I've got a 7G tank and I haven't noticed any water evaporating.
Can you put the heater diagonally or similar?

 

[winterpeg]

So is it safe to add water during the cycling without causing harm as long as the water is treated.

 

[winterpeg]

May not matter after all. 24hrs ago I had 4 to 5PPM of ammonia in my tank, just checked it and my ammonia is near zero and my nitrites are near zero and I have some nitrates in the water. Looks like I will do a water change and put some fish in there and see how they do.

 

[fluttermoth]

You should really do a 'qualifying week', where you add ammonia to 3 or 4ppm and test after 12 hours. If both ammonia and nitrite are at zero on those twelve hour tests, you'd be safe to add fish but you don't want to rush things.

 

[snazy]

I wouldn't hurry with the fish. Dose ammonia for another week to be sure.