Understocking After Cycling?

[M'al-finny]

Hello again ...

While I am fishless cycling my 55 gal tank, I am coming up with more and more questions.

I assume I will need to float the LFS bags (pinned to the edge of my tank) and I will have the challenge of getting oxygentated water to them without too much shock.

So, I would prefer to do this with just a few fish at a time. I am concerned that by understocking the tank, however, that the fish won't produce enough ammonia and my filter bacteria will die.

Here are my challenges:

1) 2 hour plus drive to LFS
2) Elevation here is 9,000 feet (or about 2,700 meters) and I am going over a mountain pass which is much higher.

I plan to use a cooler to maintain temperature and (hopefully) keep the pressure a little more equalized as we go over a mountain pass and then descend back to this valley. But I don't think I can handle the full tank load all at once. I'd prefer to fully stock over 3 weeks or so.

How should I handle the initial under-stocking? Should I not worry about the bacteria and hope that it will just equalize itself, adjusting down and up as needed? My filter is a wet-dry which can handle 150 gallons.

Am I putting way too much brain damage into this? I just hate to spend all this time growing bacteria only to have it die off ....

 

[marcan]

2hr from LFS you must live in a real small town.


There's no problem "understocking".
Don't add too many fish at the same time and you'll be fine. Your bacteria colony will grow fast enough to handle the extra load.

Don't add 30 fish at the same time..your filter will have more trouble handling the extra load.

Stocking your tank over 3 weeks is a good idea

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

What "dosage" are you fishless cycling your tank for? For example, if you are dosing your tank for 5 ppm of Ammonia, you've built up a colony that can definitely withstand a full stocking of fish.

That being said, I understand why you don't want to completely stock your tank all at once, and can also understand why driving out to the LFS for only 2 or 3 fish might like a huge pain. My suggestion is that once the fishless cycle is done try to go for maybe half the final stocking list. This will keep a large portion of your bio-filter alive, and since a bacterial colony can double in approximately 24 hours will give you more freedom in the number of fish you pick up in the future.

 

[M'al-finny]

Yes, it is a very small town in a very large state.

I will attempt to bring up as much as I can ... my requirement is 1) no live bearers and 2) must be sturdy. Sturdy, sturdy fish ....