Is Too Much Ammonia In Small Tank Bad?

[phantomlink]

So, I got an Enheim Classic 600 canister filter today and here is my question. Once I open it up I'm deciding between cutting up my sponge from one of my Aquaclear 110's to put inside for an instant cycle or starting fresh.

My 125 gallon has two AquaClear 110's and is cycled for 125g worth of ammonia ( about 42ml in 12 hours ) and If I hook up this Canister filter as fresh, then I'm basically losing half my bacteria and I just got all my fish now in my bags getting used to the water. What would happen if I removed the carbon from one of my filters and just added extra biomax that is full of bacteria while the canister builds its own? From the description on the box it seems the lays are done differently then my AC110s.

If I am able/decide to cycle the canister from scratch, I have a 30g tank on the side I could use. I guess my main question in this post has to do with the tank size. Will adding 125g worth of ammonia in a 30g tank cause any issues since theres so much ammonia in a tank that size or will it be fine?

 

[Chad]

I might not be the right person to ask about this as my answer is always - go slow! I'm a huge fan of letting a tank cycle and mature slowly and not forcing it. Adding that much ammonia provides a heck of a lot of food for the bacteria. Clearly it's an amount that won't be sustained so the population that is created from it won't last and will die. All that die-off can have consequences in terms of phosphates and nitrates being released into the tank in great quantity. If you have nothing to compete for those resources (i.e. plants) then algae and cyanobacteria will prosper.

Others may have a different view and I'm curious to hear what they have to say but my thoughts are tostick with the 30g on the side and move slow.

 

[phantomlink]

Well, the filters in my 125g were cycled to 70g first then it only took a few days to bump them to 125. I was just wondering what would happen if I put 125g worth of ammonia in a 30g tank ( the filter does up to 160 gallons so it would filter that tank water 9x an hour )

Theres no problem with me probably just cutting up the sponge from my Aquaclear and using the biomax I have in the canister for an instant cycle but I was just wondering since I have all my fish here getting used to the water I cant "start fresh" with my main filter

 

[Chad]

I have used filters from mature tanks before. I actually am not that fond of it as a method. It certainly gets the bacteria in the tank but they still need nutrients to survive so if you don't provide them with some they quickly perish.

 

[phantomlink]

For now I put both Aquaclear back in the tank, these Eheim are confusing to setup so I'll tackle it tomorrow. All the fish are now in the tank and its almost fully stocked so that will handle all my future ammonia additions which are now done well... for now I still have an Aquaclear 20 to setup

 

[fluttermoth]

You couldn't put 125 gallons worth of ammonia in a 30 gallon tank; the PPM would be all wrong, and you'd get the wrong families of bacteria growing.