Hey y'all, I went to the Wal-Mart today and they didn't have pure ammonia only the sudsy stuff, so I have decided to cycle my 20 gallon tank by adding fish flakes in the place of ammonia and I've just got a couple of questions.
1) How long does it take for ammonia to show up on the testing kit after you add the fish food? (will it take a few moments, or do you need to give it all day to "leak out"?)
2) Clearly dropping a pinch of fish flakes in the tank everyday is gonna get messy, so can I do a little water change every here and there just to clean things up a little?
3) How can I prevent mold from growing in the tank, specifically on the fish food and further contaminating the water? Or is this rarely a problem?
4) Do I need to add enough food to keep the ammonia at a constant 4 ppm, or figure out how much it takes to get to 4, and then add that exact amount everyday?
5. (last one I promise, just hang in there
) Wouldn't it just be easier to put a couple of tough fish in the tank and wait for the tank to cycle itself? I've got a bayou right behind my house that's filled with mosquitofish (basically a wild, tougher version of the guppy), why don't I put a few in the tank, feed them each day like I normally would, and then once the tank is cycled release them back into the wild?
1) How long does it take for ammonia to show up on the testing kit after you add the fish food? (will it take a few moments, or do you need to give it all day to "leak out"?)
2) Clearly dropping a pinch of fish flakes in the tank everyday is gonna get messy, so can I do a little water change every here and there just to clean things up a little?
3) How can I prevent mold from growing in the tank, specifically on the fish food and further contaminating the water? Or is this rarely a problem?
4) Do I need to add enough food to keep the ammonia at a constant 4 ppm, or figure out how much it takes to get to 4, and then add that exact amount everyday?
5. (last one I promise, just hang in there
) Wouldn't it just be easier to put a couple of tough fish in the tank and wait for the tank to cycle itself? I've got a bayou right behind my house that's filled with mosquitofish (basically a wild, tougher version of the guppy), why don't I put a few in the tank, feed them each day like I normally would, and then once the tank is cycled release them back into the wild?