[chessjunkie]

I've read many reports on fishless cycling. Half say you can fully stock your tank after and the other half say stock it slowly. Trying to find out which way it is.

 

[Rhinox]

I've read many reports on fishless cycling. Half say you can fully stock your tank after and the other half say stock it slowly. Trying to find out which way it is.

Well it depends HOW exactly you fishless cycle, but in general one of the positives of fishless cycling is that it allows you to fully stock your tank right away.

 

[regani]

IF the amount of ammonia you use in your fishless cycling is the same as generated by the final stock levels in the tank, then you can add all the fish at once. But that is very difficult to determine.
The safer option is to introduce the fish in groups. Those groups don't have to be very small, but you will still need to keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels for a while.

 

[chessjunkie]

Thanks for the imput guys.

 

[prov356]

It's very easy to fully stock all at once by using 1-2ppm of ammonia. There's nothing difficult about this. It's one of the advantages of fishless cycling, and I see very few suggesting otherwise. Stock fully. I've done it many, many times. No reason to shy away from it.

 

[prov356]

IF the amount of ammonia you use in your fishless cycling is the same as generated by the final stock levels in the tank, then you can add all the fish at once. But that is very difficult to determine.

You don't have to worry about this. Even if the amount is higher, bacteria multiply quickly, within 24 hours. I've cycled to 1ppm sucessfully, and suspect that's not even necessary, but usually suggest 1-2 ppm to be safe. If fully stocking with adults, go to 3ppm. Those recommendations are padded to ensure safety.

The safer option is to introduce the fish in groups. Those groups don't have to be very small, but you will still need to keep a close eye on the ammonia and nitrite levels for a while.

It's always a good idea to check ammnonia/nitrite in the first few days, that I'll agree with. But, nothing 'unsafe' about fully stocking with fish after fishless cycling. When stocking aggressive cichlids, introducing some before others only puts the later arrivals at a disadvantage.

 

[chessjunkie]

Thanks moderator 356.

 

[regani]

You don't have to worry about this. Even if the amount is higher, bacteria multiply quickly, within 24 hours. I've cycled to 1ppm sucessfully, and suspect that's not even necessary, but usually suggest 1-2 ppm to be safe. If fully stocking with adults, go to 3ppm. Those recommendations are padded to ensure safety.

Cool, good to know that it works so well. I guess I have just been over careful in the past. I do the stocking one species at a time, starting from the least agressive one, that seems to works reasonably well without too many troubles.

I'll try the full stocking the next time I set up a tank. It does speed things up if you can put them in all at once. But on the other hand you don't have the excuse to go to LFS every weekend for a few weeks to buy more fish