When fishless cycling is done...

[Nolapete]

As the bioload increases the number of bacteria needs to increase to handle it. If you just load up the tank, the bioload surpasses the bacteria colonies ability to handle it.

Just look at it as you trying to eat everything at a buffet while the kitchen staff is bringing more food out. You'll never catch up. The food will keep on being brought out whether you eat it or not.

Now, if you brought a college football team with you, the kitchen staff would probably have a hard time keeping food available.

If you add a couple fish a week until stocked, the bacteria can multiply to handle all the ammonia your tank inhabitants can produce and then be read for more.

 

[Aphotic Phoenix]

The colony has already been built up by weeks of fishless cycling however! How much ammonia do you think a full tank of fish produces in a day? I'm guessing less than 5 ppm.

If you put in a small bioload after doing a 5 ppm Ammonia fishless cycle, the bacterial colony would shrink without enough food. Bacteria are living things too and require a food source. Which is why you can't leave a cycled tank sitting around without some ammonia source for very long.

I've asked this before: http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=113449

 

[Tycoon]

I guess I could fully stock right away but as you guys are saying... better safe than sorry

Im just gonna add 5 guppies first then, wait a week and add 3 platies, wait another week and add my last fish, dwarf gourami.


But I agree with what Aphotic is saying though... what did you do Aphotic? Did you add all your fish at once?

 

[boojumsnark25]

My LFS is a long ways away, so there was no way I could add fish slowly over a span of weeks or a month or two.

So, I stocked my 55 all at once. I was fine, and nothing died. However, just because it happened to me doesn't mean you'll have the same "luck".

I'd advise to do it slowly, if at all possible.

 

[kmail5776]

Can I put all the fish I want in the tank right away without overstocking of course?

In theory, yes.

Once your Ammo and Nitrites are 0 after 24 hrs. of adding 5 ppm ammonia, do a large water change, like 99%, (prime treated of coures) and add fish. If you wait, you risk starving the ammo nitrifying bacteria, and you were better off doing a fishy cycle anyway.

 

[Galaxie]

5 guppies, 3 mollies, and a dwarf gourami probably don't produce 5ppm ammonia in a week, unless your tank is under 10 gallons. Unfortunately, approximating how much they "will" produce is an inexact science at best. 5ppm per day is a pretty heavy stock though. I'd add all those fish you listed right away. If you don't, your bacterial colonies could diminish under the low bio-load & will have to re-build themselves as you continue to add more fish. This will cause multiple mini-cycles over the next few weeks. The spiking ammonia and nitrite levels could be a problem. This is the point of a 5ppm fishless cycle.... to bring your tank up to a full bio-load so you can stock full right away.

 

[NeonJulie]

If it wasn't for ich from the store, I added all of my neons, the dwarf gouarmi, and the 3 otos right away. Never had a blip of ammonia or nitrites. However, it makes your display tank a quarantine tank, really. Buyer beware of diseased fish.

Otherwise, you could set up a quarantine setup using your media from the display tank, and something as simple as a plastic bin with the heater and an air bubbler, and quarantine them in batches, from 2-4 weeks.

I wholeheartedly believe there's no way decent stocking will exceed 5ppm per day. Yes you can stock the whole tank right away, that's what it's for. But you might run into other issues, the biggest being the potential for disease, the other smaller issues having to do with territory establishment, and the unknown NitrAtes amount you will be dealing with, if you stock the tank right off the bat.