I always see people say, add a little amount of fishfood when cycling... is this just so the tank doesnt get dirty or can creating too much ammonia (and bacteria) cause a problem when adding livestock?
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Question: Cycling Q
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carsona246
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Well if the tank is fully cycled there should be no ammonia when adding livestock. I don't think you could have too much bacteria in a tank, but I guess if it all died off at once it might cause an ammonia spike. I think they say add a little bit of fishfood because you don't want to dirty up your tank too much. It is possible to have too much ammonia, but I don't think i've heard of anyone who has added too much while cycling so I wouldn't be too concerned if I was you
MereB
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The reason we say add a little is because your axolotls/fish/snails/tadpoles or what ever else you want to keep in a tank is not the only living thing in there that you need to take care of :happy: You need to take VERY good care of your bacteria as they are the ones that will support every other living thing you add to your tank.
The food is there when cycling as a source of ammonia (a roll your pets will take over eventually) to feed the bacteria as they grow and become established. Levels of 1ppm are deadly to many aquatic animals and dangerous for many more (bacteria included). 1.5ppm is deadly to pretty much everything INCLUDING your filter bacteria. Should you add a lot of fish food it will quickly raise the ammonia levels creating an ammonia spike and should it spike too high it WILL kill the bacteria in your filter stopping your cycle and sending you right back to the start of the whole cycling process which can add weeks if not months to the time you are waiting for your new pets home to be ready. You want to keep your ammonia below 1ppm with water changes even when cycling to protect your bacteria.
You could dump a heap of food in there at the start but you would be doing a MASSIVE water change and clean up very very soon after effectively wasting a heap of food and a large chunk of your time. Let's face it you will want to clean your tank at some point just before you get your pets to make it pretty for them but it's usually easier if you keep it once rather than every week. It's better for your cycle too if you're not constantly changing large volumes of water. 20% when the ammonia hits about 0.75ppm should be plenty while cycling and is far less of an undertaking than having to vacuum out large quantities of fish food from your tank and substrate every other day
It keeping your tank a little cleaner is really just a bonus it's all to protect the growing bacteria.
The food is there when cycling as a source of ammonia (a roll your pets will take over eventually) to feed the bacteria as they grow and become established. Levels of 1ppm are deadly to many aquatic animals and dangerous for many more (bacteria included). 1.5ppm is deadly to pretty much everything INCLUDING your filter bacteria. Should you add a lot of fish food it will quickly raise the ammonia levels creating an ammonia spike and should it spike too high it WILL kill the bacteria in your filter stopping your cycle and sending you right back to the start of the whole cycling process which can add weeks if not months to the time you are waiting for your new pets home to be ready. You want to keep your ammonia below 1ppm with water changes even when cycling to protect your bacteria.
You could dump a heap of food in there at the start but you would be doing a MASSIVE water change and clean up very very soon after effectively wasting a heap of food and a large chunk of your time. Let's face it you will want to clean your tank at some point just before you get your pets to make it pretty for them but it's usually easier if you keep it once rather than every week. It's better for your cycle too if you're not constantly changing large volumes of water. 20% when the ammonia hits about 0.75ppm should be plenty while cycling and is far less of an undertaking than having to vacuum out large quantities of fish food from your tank and substrate every other day
It keeping your tank a little cleaner is really just a bonus it's all to protect the growing bacteria.