Hi folks,

I have a 29 gal that finally finished cycling this past monday. I cycled the tank with 6 danios and a golden apple snail about the size of a silver dollar. I now have two 4-5 inch ranchus coming and was wondering if the water parameters would spike. I have aquarium salt and a test kit all ready, but if they do spike, how long will it take for them to come back down? The same time as a regular cycle?

Thanks in advance.

This one's a bit tough to answer.

It really depends on how much free surface area is available for microbes to grow in your filter.

If you've got a huge filter, then I'd expect a spike to be taken care of in about 2 days. This is based on my experience with a 29g and a huge cannister + internal power filter.

If your filtration is just about adequate, I have no prior experience, but I would hazard a guess that it might take 1 or 2 weeks. I think your current bio-load is tiny, compared to 2 big fat ranchus. (Danios are tiny little fish?)

Perhaps you could increase the bioload further with dead cocktail shrimps? Provided your filtration is up to it.

Slugger

The filter I have came with the tank and is made by topfin. (I actually have a post about it in the equipment section). And yeah, danios are tiny little fish. I got them because I'd read here that they were very hardy and could handle a tank cycle well. They just don't produce a whole heck of a lot of ammonia. Oh well, I was warned about this.

Guess I'll just have to test and salt for awhile. I was just hoping it wouldn't take that long for everything to go back to normal.

Thanks Slugger. If you have anymore suggestions, let me know.


Oh, I just thought of something...if I add one of my fantails ( he's only 2 inches from nose to end of tail, maybe) will that bring it along much better for the ranchus? They're being shipped, and I hate that they'll have to go through so many water changes when they've finally made it here.

Yea, I'd bet you will see ammonia and nitrIte after you add the two newbies. adding the fantail to get some more ammonia production happening, may help start more biobugs growing in prep for the newbies.