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Can you over cycle a tank?

625 views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Diana 
#1 ·
Hypothetical Scenario:

Let's say I have a 10 gallon tank with like 10 little comet feeder gold fish in there. The tank is cycled and stable with a high bio load. Then all of a sudden I take all the feeders out and put in 10 CRS only. Will I have a mini cycle because all of a sudden the ammonia source has been reduced by 90% or will the cycle capacity just slowly decrease over time with no adverse effect on the water parameter?
 
#4 ·
as long as there is some type of bio load in the tank the bacteria should compensate. just don't leave the tank empty for an extended period of time or you will have to recycle. if you leave it empty you can always "feed the filter". just add a pinch of food to the tank and let it sit. but if you take out all occupants and immediately replace them with something else you wont have any problems.
 
#6 ·
If the second population is much smaller then the bacteria will die off to match the new bio load.
In dying off they are supplying some (not much) ammonia to the remaining bacteria.

But you will not notice this, since they are used to dealing with a much higher bio load, and the die off is not so fast at to overwhelm the ones that are left.
 
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