How To Add Fish From Qt With Causing A Mini Cycle

A week ago I added my 4 platy from QT to the main tank. I used TSS but I still had a minI cycle. Ugh.
In 3 weeks my 6 corys will make the move if all is good. How do I move them without problems? Do I fast both tanks before the move so the bioload is lightened?

 

A week ago I added my 4 platy from QT to the main tank. I used TSS but I still had a minI cycle. Ugh.
In 3 weeks my 6 corys will make the move if all is good. How do I move them without problems? Do I fast both tanks before the move so the bioload is lightened?

From what I've heard, the only way to not have a minI cycle at all is to only add 2-3 fish at a time. Even then, sometimes it'll happen and even if you don't see it in your tests, it still did happen. Just really fast.

 

I would add three corydoras to the tank. After this, check your parameters. After a few days, you can add the rest if everything looks okay. Two at a time is better with the same process.

 

Hi, all.
In my experience, it should be quite safe to add more fish at a time.
You should be wary about NOT TO EXCEED the bioload capacity of your filter medium. If you add more fish at a time, your beneficial bacteria will adapt to the new bioload - this can take some days. While this happens you should measure your nitrates level more frequently and make a partial water change, also more frequently.
But don't worry too much about small fluctuations in nitrates and 'mini-cycles'... if the tendency is rising after adding more fish, that's normal, as the amount of BB readjusts.

Good luck.

 

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but how much bio-load is created is a matter of how much you feed. If that theory is correct , if you gradually feed more food, the bio-load on the filter will not change when the fish are added. Someone on YouTube, forget who it was on the top of my head, fed one cube of bloodwork while stocking so that insead of adding more food, each fish would receive slightly less food , and your cycle would never get messed up. That is just one theory, and there are multiple other ways to do it as well, which were already mentioned.

 

Hi, all.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but how much bio-load is created is a matter of how much you feed.

I agree.
Usually, more fish mean more food.
Un-eatem food will eventually degrade and 'fuel' the bioload, but the food that is eaten will be converted into urea and poo faster than the un-eaten food.
But, generally the more fish are in a tank, the more food must be supplied and there will be a relation between amount of fish/supplied food and bio-load.

Sorry if I wasn't clear on that in my first post.

 

I didn't want to stress them by adding a few at a time but if it's ok I can do three and then wait a couple days and do three.

 

even if you have a minI cycle it’s not the end of the world, just put some prime it until the filter catches up to the bioload.

 

Can you add a second filter to have more room for bacteria to grow then hopefully you will have enough bacteria to add the fish no problem? I have 2 filters going and I added 5 cories with no minI cycle and 4 guppies and 2 platies a week later and still no minI cycle. I have been testing every day and never had ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are staying at 10-20. All I can think is I have enough bb between the 2 filters to handle the bioload.

 

Can you add a second filter to have more room for bacteria to grow then hopefully you will have enough bacteria to add the fish no problem? I have 2 filters going and I added 5 cories with no minI cycle and 4 guppies and 2 platies a week later and still no minI cycle. I have been testing every day and never had ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates are staying at 10-20. All I can think is I have enough bb between the 2 filters to handle the bioload.

Haha. I have two filters. An aqua clear 50 and a sponge filter rated for a 10 gal. My tank is a 37 gal.

I think my problem was a rinsed my main filter sponges during the water change in tank water and two days later added the platies. I should have rinsed out half my media at a time instead of all the main filter media.