Quote:
Originally Posted by Phurst  Keep in mind though, if you build up a huge load of bacteria, and then stop feeding it the same levels of ammonia (i.e adding one or two fish) you will have a mini cycle anyway as the bacterial colony dies of due to starvation. |
Good point. I have not tested that theory out. I did test 1 fish vs adding
ammonia. I put a bunch of fish in at once and did get some huge spikes which indicated that cycle for one fish is not enough.
I also put 35 africans in a 55 gallon tank after a fishless cycle and was amazed that there was not a
nitrite or
ammonia spike.
I am not sure that the entire colony will die down, it maybe that there still is a large colony that is at a lower growth rate because as you said you are not feeding it. I suppose you could keep adding a little
ammonia to stimulate the large colony.
I mainly use the fishless for africans as they are best put in a tank all at once vs one at a time.
