Is my tank really cycled in two days??

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Specialk302

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Ok I set up a 20 gallon qt. I used a very dirty/ seeded filter from my other established tank that was in there for about a month. I have 2 Molly's in the qt right now . So my api master kit tells me my ph is 7.6 , .50 ppm ammonia, 0ppm nitrite, and 10ppm nitrate. Did i do something wrong?? Or is this right?? I'm planning to do water changes every other day as well as to test ammonia every two days. Tell me what you guys think.

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Yes it is possible but you are not cycled since you have ammonia present. Would do a 60% water change to get the level down.
 
I did a 25% water change afterwards with some prime. I'll test for ammonia again tomorrow. But wouldn't prime throw my readings off? ?

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Prime can through off your readings. I would plan on keeping up pwc's for at least a week and keep an eye on it. If your ammonia comes down you should be good. Should still have a mini cycle though.
 
Thanks I'm planning to do 20% water changes every other day and keep the seeded filter in and keep the temp around 80

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Using prime will give you a reading of both ammonia and ammonium. Since the test isn't able to differentiate between the two it can be considered "wrong" is a very precise sense of the word. But the nitrogen is still there either way. I would highly suggest increasing the water change schedule 50% until there are no longer any readings for ammonia.
 
Let's say your month old filter was fully cycled, if you used media from it you should be ok. If your nitrites are 0 ppm I think your filter is doing its job. Perhaps your kit is not reading right?
 
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