Keeping An Empty Tank Cycled

[Squidward]

Hi All,

I have a small 25 litre tank which I had a few fish in.
On the weekend, I got rid of these.

I will be using the tank again shortly for something else, but I haven't decided what for yet.
So in the mean time, say 3/4 weeks, I need to keep the internal filter cycled.
How long will the filter be ok for should I do nothing? If I throw in a few flakes of food every few days, will this keep the filter cycled?

Thanks
Squidward

 

[mark.w.jones]

Raising ammonia levels with fish food is really not an exact science and is very messy. It would not be my preferred option. Is there any way you can move all of the media from this tank's filter to the filter of a tank which is currently stocked? Either that or you need to go down the route of daily pure ammonia additions as per a fishless cycle. (see link in sig.). You need to do something quick though as the useful bacteria in your media die off very quickly without a food source. Fish food may do in the short term but I would not recommend this as a way of keeping your filter bacteria alive for a number of weeks.

 

[Skins]

Raising ammonia levels with fish food is really not an exact science and is very messy. It would not be my preferred option. Is there any way you can move all of the media from this tank's filter to the filter of a tank which is currently stocked? Either that or you need to go down the route of daily pure ammonia additions as per a fishless cycle. (see link in sig.). You need to do something quick though as the useful bacteria in your media die off very quickly without a food source. Fish food may do in the short term but I would not recommend this as a way of keeping your filter bacteria alive for a number of weeks.

+1. Thats what i do with my QT filter media, when its not needed i simply put the sponge in my fluval 405 on the display tank and when required i put back into the QT filter.

Keith.

 

[markandhisfish]

simply dose the tank to 5ppm with ammonia . you can use the calculator at the top of the forum to tell you how much ammonia you need. then for as long as the tank is empty just keep testing and dosing as required. then when youre ready to re-stock again do a big waterchange and away you go. i did this when my tank was empty for about a month and it kept the filter fed lovely .