Adding ammonia

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fishaddict

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Jan 30, 2003
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Hey everyone,
can i add ammonia to my fish tank to keep the bacteria alive. There are absolutely no fish in the tank but i want to keep the tank ready for some possible guppies or white cloud mountain minnows or something else small. Its 5.5 gallons with a filter heater and plastic plant. I will be decorating more but a convict i kept in there seemed to uproot everything. Also how long can bacteria last with no ammonia.

Thanks
 
Yea, so can add about a teaspoon of ammonia each day to keep the bacteria colonies alive. As to the time the colonies will stay alive, it's hard to tell because there are different factors that will give you different times. I would guess about a week or so, but I don't know for sure. They will slowly die off until there are none left.
 
or just fish food

I know of very experienced fish keepers who feed their empty tanks a bit of fish food daily. They claim that it decays into ammonia (even without the fish in the middle of the process) and keeps the tank ready for fish. They feed the empty tank about the same amount that they would feed the fish, so no worries about a massive die off of excess bacteria (and that pollution) when they do stock the tank.

I've not done that, though I did 'feed" my first tank that way prior to the first fish.

Because you *can* overdo the ammonia this sounds more reasonable to me.
 
Thanks

Ok that sounds like a pretty good idea. I was planning on adding a few white cloud minnows and also some guppies to the tank but i cant go shopping till at least tuesday and didnt want anything to die. Thanks
 
Don't bother doing anything, if it's only two days, there is no reason. The bacteria won't decrease in only two days. Adding the food will only have a negative effect in this short of time.
 
thanks everyone

k thanks. Does anyone know if guppies and white clouds cnan live peacefully in a 5.5 gallon tank. I wanna make this look nice.

Thanks no harmful effects for me
 
UNCANNY!!! I was just coming here to post the exact same question, "How long can the bacteria live without being fed?". I'm going out of town Tuesday morn and won't be home until Thursday afternoon/evening. My 20g is right at the end of a fishless cycle (NH3=0.6, NO2=0.1), so I'm espacially worried about losing the bacteria. Just wanted to say thanks for asking, fishaddict!!

Go Canucks!!
 
You're not at the end until those figures are 0.
 
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