How long can the tank remain fishless?

fenwaypark

fenwaypark

Member
How long can I leave JUST the live sand and live rock in the tank without fish or inverts? I'm not in a hurry to get fish, I wanna make sure the environment is ready. With filter and powerheads going how long can the tank remain fishless or invertless?
 
torno

torno

Member
You need a source of ammonia or all the beneficial bacteria you got through cycling will die off, and when you do stock your tank will cycle. If you don't want fish now, add some food to the tank each night. This will act as a source of ammonia for the bacteria to turn into nitrite, then nitrate. You can use this method for however long you need to.
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
Originally Posted by Torno
You need a source of ammonia or all the beneficial bacteria you got through cycling will die off, and when you do stock your tank will cycle. If you don't want fish now, add some food to the tank each night. This will act as a source of ammonia for the bacteria to turn into nitrite, then nitrate. You can use this method for however long you need to.
true that you'll need to "feed" the nitrosomas and nitrobacter bacterias occasionally to keep your cycle stable and constant. most rock has tons of food in there for a couple months. i don't think daily is necessary. i've kept "empty" tanks for months while curing and seeding rock. i usually have a sparse clean up crew and test every 3 or so days. if you feed every day i'd recommend testing before every feeding. :thinking: i've been doing twice a week spot feedings on crabs on my latest 180, testing before. there's maybe 10 big hermits and 10 or so nass snails. with regular lighting the snails and algae contribute plenty to bacterial growth. the problem comes in that you'll be spending a hefty electric bill for nothing but a box of rocks.
 
teen

teen

Active Member
id throw a few hermits and snails in. its inexpensive, and you dont really have to feed them for a while. maybe a few flakes once a week for the hermits. and if you had a lot of "stuff" on your LR, they should be fine for a while without food.
 
d0 thy d3w

d0 thy d3w

Member
wat i did...was bought sum live rock..live sand and watnot..and sum frozen sish food..id cut up small pieces of fish food every couple of days and feed the tank without fish..but id think adding to much fish food is ano no..its just wat i did
 
maeistero

maeistero

Active Member
i would say yes. the lighting and circ electric bills would be expensive for it though. i still would try to add a few cleanup crew guys. it's always worked for me when a tank finished it's cycle but i wasn't decisive on buying local stock. my fiance was laughing at me the other day when we were watching cops. this transient was in an afluent area with a big bag.
full of rocks. he was a rock collector.
i used to tell my co-workers that i scored some killer rock until i got a bad rep going around. people just don't understand.
 
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