How long does it take for fish food to break down and release ammonia?

[MikeMTL]

Basically, topic. I am using flake food. I put in a few small pinch in my 25G. My temp is about 80. How long does it take approximately for the fish food to break down to ammonia?

 

[mbsqw1d]

Basically, topic. I am using flake food. I put in a few small pinch in my 25G. My temp is about 80. How long does it take approximately for the fish food to break down to ammonia?

Is this in a bid to cycle the tank? It can vary depending on the brand/type of food, size of tank, how much food you add.

 

[MikeMTL]

Is this in a bid to cycle the tank? It can vary depending on the brand/type of food, size of tank, how much food you add.

Yes to cycle a tank. I added a few pinches, crumbled it up very well. It's a 25 gallon.

 

[JuiceBox52]

You might have more luck with liquid ammonia

 

[MikeMTL]

You might have more luck with liquid ammonia

Oh dude, don't get me started on that. Ive been using pure ammonia for the past month with 0 results. I basically started my cycle over completly now.

 

[Essjay]

The trouble with using fish food is that you have no idea how much ammonia is made by the food.
If you can't cycle with adding ammonia, you'll probably have the same problem with fish food. Te ammonia made by the decomposing food is exactly the same as that which comes from a bottle.

Can you tell us exactly what you did when you tried to cycle with ammonia, please.

 

[Essjay]

The other alternative is to use live plants. If there are enough plants, they can remove all the ammonia made by a sensibly stocked tank of fish and plants do not turn the ammonia into nitrite.
To do this you would need fast growing stem or floating plants - the faster the plants grow the more ammonia they take up.

 

[Colin_T]

it takes a couple of hours for dead fish or fish food to start producing ammonia. The dead fish or food will continue to produce ammonia for as long as it is in the tank. Leave the food in the tank until the ammonia level is about 2ppm then remove the food and don't add anymore until the level drops to 0ppm.

you can also use a dead prawn/ shrimp or white bait.

if your having problems getting a tank to cycle, just add a couple of cheap fish and some plants and let it run.