[TheCheeseWizz]

My ammonia overdose problem is now coming under control thanks to everybody on the forum. So thank you everybody.
My question: Now that the the spike is going down, will it happen again. If so does it depend on how many fish I add and how fast I add them.

 

[susankat]

After the ammonia spike drops you will start seeing a nitrite spike. After that spike then you should start seeing nitrates and should be able to slowly start adding fish.

 

[djrichie]

but to answer you question: Yes you can and will get mini cycles, when you add fish, if you gravel vac to much, clean the filter, anytime you remove some of the bio-colony or add the the bio-load of the tank. This is nothing to worry about, unless you clean the tank to much, and than you can send the tank back into a full cycle. a little dirty tank is better than a super clean tank.

 

[eaglesfan3711]

The tank will constantly cycle. It changes ammonia to nitrite to nitrate. Then the cycle repeats. If you reduce the amount of feeding, it will prevent overfeeding and the amount of waste produced, thus lowering ammonia levels.

If you weren't already, do a 10% water change weekly and change or clean off the filter at least once a month.

If you follow this, you shouldn't have problems to worry about.

 

[Dmaaaaax]

A tank needs to make beneficial bacteria that can break down ammonia waste into nitrite and nitrite waste into nitrate. This typically takes 2-3 weeks. Use your test kit to test for ammonia every 2-3 days and you should see a spike followed by a slow drop. Once you see the spike start testing for nitrites. Again you should see a spike followed by a slow decline. At this point the nitrate level will start to rise. Nitrate is fairly safe for fish and is actually used by plants, however to keep this within limits a weekly 25% water change is done. As long as you do weekly water change and you don't overcrowd the tank or overfeed your fish, you should not really ever see another spike in ammonia or nitrite.

Exceptions have been listed above by others. The biggest one is if you change out all your filter media all at once or wash it all with tap water. However there is still enough beneficial bacteria in your gravel to offset this...just don't vacuum all your gravel at once and change your filter. I usually vacuum 1/4 of the gravel with every weekly water change.

With a planted tank you might not even need to vacuum at all...my nitrates never go up because they are immediately used by my plants.