Adding ammonia into a tank with fish in it?

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L

Liz Sagara

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Jan 13, 2011
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Texas
Okay I have a 55 gallon tank that's cycled and well on it's way to be "matured" not there yet I assure you. However I recently removed about 9 slender bodied fish (3 Betta's and 6 Zebra danios) because I added 2 Kenyi Cichlids. I estimate that I've only taken about 4-5 slender bodied fish's worth of bioload out ad the Cichlids are varacious/ messy eaters with stockier build. Here's the question:

1. If I add about a 4th of a teaspoon ammonia (the bioload can convert an entire tablespoon of ammonia to nitrate in less than 12 hours) to keep the bioload where it was, will it work or will it do more harm than good.

The tank is 55 gallons with 545 gallons per hour filtration on it. It has one male and one female Kenyi cichlid ~2-3 inches and about 1/2 inches "thick". It also has 2 ~ 3-4 inch Bristlenosed Pleco's in it. I know that fish excrete ammonia through their urine so they must have some tolerance for low levels while the biological filtration deals with it. Would this work?
 
Bacteria reproduce very quickly. If you have a very low bioload and add more stock to the tank gradually, the bacteria should be able to keep up without much problem
 
Problem is that I will need to add the rest of my stock at once because Kenyi's need to be added all at the same time because they don't accept new fish very easily. So I can't do the whole "only add one or two fish at a time" thing.
 
Adding ammonia into a tank with fish is like shooting yourself in the leg.
What is the purpose of cycling the tank if you are still gonna expose your fishes to the deadly ammonia anyway?

I'll say just add Prime when you have detectable ammonia and Stability to help boost bacteria growth.
And keep up with the w/cs
 
I've heard mixed reviews on those things. I've heard several people say that you can't keep bacteria alive in a sealed bottle. I use Prime and it works well. I think I'll just do more frequent 2x a week 25% water changes if I get a spike and watch closely.

It was a thought not really anything else. Didn't think I'd get such a strong negative reaction to this. Calm down guys it was a thought not an action. I feel a little attacked. I realize this probably wasn't any ones intentions.
 
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