I Think My Tank Has Finished Cycling.

[Jcartwright]

If you take out part of the sponges, you will remove some of your bacteria but it should only take about 24 hours for the colony to reproduce to accomodate the lose. Just keep adding ammonia for an extra day or so until it is processing it in the proper time frame again.

Which of the sponges do i take out the coarse or the fine or one of each?

 

[Jcartwright]

Although *technically* it would actually be better to add the less hardy fish, like the otos, first off- you definately have more than enough bacteria, whereas if you add them later, you don't. But I know most people don't agree with that theory.
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I've been told that the ottos prefer a more mature tank before being added.
I've started to get algea on the gravel so i left the lights off to see if this will slow down the growth.

 

[rdd1952]

Usually the algae that forms on the gravel is blue-green algae and no fish will eat it. Otos won't usually eat algae off gravel either, at least none of the ones I've ever had did. They prefer eating from leaves and the sides of the tank. They do need a mature tank and still are hard to keep. All otos are wild caught and don't handle the travel well. Before you buy them, ask the store how long they have had them. If it's less than 2 weeks, don't buy. They will likely lose 50% of them in the first 2 weeks. After that, they are probably healthy enough to live a while. Personally, I've had no luck with otos and won't buy them again. They just seem to die for no reason.