Keeping A Tank Cycled

[AshleySpatula]

i have a 20g and before i found this site and knew about cycling i made the common mistake of adding fish too soon and lost most of them, also lost alot from ick. but now i have the liquid amonia test and will soon be replacing the stupid test strips with liquid test kit.

i have 4 black neon tetras that survived all that harshness and seem to be doing really well now, but it's a 20g and thats alot of room for 4 little tetras, i have about 8-10 plants, two mystery snails and various other baby snails (the small ramshorns, little pond snails) is this enough to keep the tank cycled until later on when i am ready to add more fish? i dont over feed and sometimes i fret that i am underfeeding but i dont want to add anymore excess waste due to the small amount of fish.

i do 25% water change once a week, is that good?

any advice?
thanks so much

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

As long as Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates aren't around (Nitrates should be very low because of the plants), then you can add a few more fish (only a few per week.)

 

[AshleySpatula]

yeah i know i could most likely add new fish right now but i dont want to take the chances, i still need to pick up all the tests. i was just wondering if just the 4 tetras and the few snails is enough to produce enough waste to keep the bio filter/bacteria alive for a few more weeks till i am ready (emotinally ) to add more fish...
after loosing so many i am trying to take every precaution to keep what fish i will buy in the future alive and well and happy. so i even have a quarentine tank now, getting all the tests, making sure my tank has plenty plants/rocks for hiding places, reading up all i can on the fish i want, and being sure to find a good place to purchase healthy fish from, even if i have to order them.

so are the 4 tetras and snails gonna do a good job at keepin the bacteria alive?

 

[DiscusKeeper403]

Umm they should do the job...

 

[zoekin8yg]

they will keep the bacteria, but probably only enough to deal with the ammonia that they are producing, adding more fish will increase the bioload, which is why you should add fish only a few at a time, the filter will then lag behind a bit and then catch back up with the bioload

 

[rdd1952]

A tank is only cycled for the fish present. If you have no ammonia or nitrite then you are cycled. Adding more fish will indeed cause a small mini cycle but if you increase the stock slowly, you will be fine. You could safely add 4 more neons without any problems. Nitrifying bacteria can double in about 24 hours. If you double your bio-load, the bacteria will multiply and in about a day, there will be enough bacteria to handle the 8 neons. Just check the ammonia and nitrite for a couple days to make sure it doesn't spike. As long as you never add more bio-load than what is already present in the tank, it should only take a day or maybe 2 for the bacteria to catch up and the tank (really the filter) will be cycled again for the fish present.

 

[AshleySpatula]

great! thats exactly what i wanted to hear
thanks guys!