Cycled tank- 24 hours. Are fish safe during that 24 hour period?

[sparklepixie]

I am sure that someone can explain this..

While setting up an active Angelsplus sponge last night, I started wondering about this.

When we have a cycled tank that turns everything within 24 hours, what happens to the fish during that 24 hours? Are they at risk? There would have to be readings in the tank during that 24 hours that would show the different stages that ammonia goes through to get to nitrAtes.

For example, on my 40, it's cycled but I have yet to put fish in.. So last night, I dosed it to 4ppm ammonia .. I checked parameters this morning, Ammonia is 0 but Nitrites are between 2-5 ppm, which I expected and by the end of the day today, it will have 0. Yet, there is still a time frame where the fish are being exposed to ammonia and nitrite.

Is it because the cycle is so quick that it doesn't truly harm the fish or is it something else? For some reason I always thought that it was instantneous, but that doesn't sound right.

 

[eirynne]

I think the bulk addition of so much ammonia is why you see the high ammonia, then high nitrites, then high nitrates.

When your ammonia source are fish, with a large enough bacteria colony, I believe that the amount of waste produced is a much smaller (but steadier) amount that would easily be handled quickly and effectively by the bacteria colony before it reaches a detectable level. Thus, when you have fish & test your water, you should not see ammonia or nitrites in the water & it wouldn't be harmful for them.

 

[sparklepixie]

Which backs reason that overstocked tanks are not a good thing.