How to avoid ammonia spike when QT?

[Neptune 555]

To seed my QT tanks and avoid ammonia spikes, I have taken part of the HOB filter from an existing tank and have tried to add that media to the tank. A few questions..

* as my DT has been fallow for 3 months does it have enough bacteria to seed a QT tank? I continue to feed the tank as I have 2 shrimp / 1 emerald crab / 20 hermits / 7 snails in the tank?

* As the filters on my DT and the QT tank are entirely different I have been cutting up the filter pad and placing as much of it as I can in the filter and placing the rest of the pad just inside the tank for populations to grow. Will this work?

* How else can I avoid the ammonia spike? I do have alert badges on the tank... thanks for the tip! but the amount of water changes would be a ton to manage?

Neptune

been taking 1/2 the filter pad from the existing

 

[Mrscribbled]

Instant Ocean Bio-spira or Dr. TIm's one and Only work great for instant biofiltration.

 

[gmax111]

Depending on your DT size vs QT size your filter should have enough bacteria on it. Live rock from the DT in your QT will help a lot!

I had inverts in my tank by themselves without feeding for 2 months, but it was also established for a couple years. It wouldn't hurt to feed small amounts every so often for the crabs and shrimp.

I've never used a product to prevent a cycle, only to help it go by faster so I can't recommend anything more than what your doing already with maybe the addition of some live rock you don't mind sacrificing..

 

[Deinonych]

Instant Ocean Bio-spira or Dr. TIm's one and Only work great for instant biofiltration.

+1

Both products work great. I prefer Bio-spira because it's easy to find locally.

Depending on your DT size vs QT size your filter should have enough bacteria on it. Live rock from the DT in your QT will help a lot!

I had inverts in my tank by themselves without feeding for 2 months, but it was also established for a couple years. It wouldn't hurt to feed small amounts every so often for the crabs and shrimp.

I've never used a product to prevent a cycle, only to help it go by faster so I can't recommend anything more than what your doing already with maybe the addition of some live rock you don't mind sacrificing..

Live rock isn't recommended for QT in general since it will make medicating difficult if disease is present. Ceramic media like Seachem Matrix in a HOB filter can be seeded with Bio-spira/Dr. Tim's in a pinch.