Cycle finished, how long will the bacteria last?

[~Erik3.8.07~]

My cycle finally finished but i cant get out to the fish store till sunday to get the clean up crew, since im guessing theres no longer an ammonia source would i lose my cylce by that time?

[Lady Hobbs]

Just keep adding a wee bit of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive.

[~Erik3.8.07~]

thats the problem, i was never using ammonia, decaying matter on the live rock was my source and since its cycled im assuming thats gone

[coachfraley]

I don't think you need to worry about it (Unless my understanding of the SW cycle is wrong). The fact that you are no longer showing ammonia does not mean that there is not ammonia present in your system, it just means that you have enough of a bacteria load to process the ammonia into nitrites, then nitrates.

A lot of reefers add a cleanup crew immediately after the cycle and leave them in there for a few weeks before adding fish.

We'll see what the others have to say, but I think you are fine.

[cocoa_pleco]

yep, youre fine

[~Erik3.8.07~]

ok good and i just found out that i could get out there today but all depends on how things go. Thx guys

[Fenix]

Don't mean to jack your thread but I had a question and didn't want to make another thread.

When you are cycling should you still do the 10-20% water changes every week?

[coachfraley]

You can hold off on water changes until the cycling completes. Once the cycle is over, most people do a rather large WC to drop nitrates down.

The only reason to do weekly changes during the cycle, is if you are trying to protect livestock from high ammonia and nitrite levels.

In your case Fenix, you might want to monitor your levels, and do some small WC's if your levels get really high. You have an awful lot of cool stuff on your rocks!

[Fenix]

Thanks! I will definitely do that.