Am I cycled?

[Arcadia]

I am confused, I have my ammonia and nitrites at 0 and my nitrates at .25
Am I cycled? I have been doing a lot of 50% water changes over the past week. It's only been two weeks, that doesn't seem right..... Or did i start the cycle over again.

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

Well I'm not sure, do you have a source of ammonia in your tank?(I thought you had fish in there? If so how many?)

I think the best way to figure it out is to not do any water change and check the water parameters daily, if you see ammonia or nitrite then your not cycled.

 

[Arcadia]

yes I had ammonia in there that was at 2.0 and had to do some water changes. I also have 9 fish in there too. So I don't know...... I bought the drops today for the nitrates and nitrites. I had drops for ammonia already. I threw away the strips. My husband put a used filter or something in from his Works tank and he got gravel too a few days ago. He told me it would help or something. I hope I didn't start the cycle over again.

 

[meegosh]

If you don't have a source of ammonia you probably never got the cycle started properly. The .25 in nitrAtes is normal for tap water. Mine reads at 10ppm right from the tap. Let us know if you are doing a fishless cycle or a cycle with fish. This will help us give you better advice.

Edit: Well you must have posted that while I was writing my reply... I'd say keep up on the water changes, any ammonia over 1ppm I would do a water change to get it back down. This will prevent your fishies from being poisoned. I'd say you have at least a week before you see your nitrItes build up and fall.

Is the filter that your husband put in running on the new tank or is the used filter media just tossed in the tank? Anything you can add from an established tank (decor, plants, gravel, etc) is beneficial and will help speed up the cycle progress. It could be possible that you may only experience a mini cycle if you are using an established filter.

Keep up on the water changes and parameter testings. Good luck!

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

You only need to do PWC's if you have ammonia or nitrites that you are trying to keep down. Except you should do a 10% pwc weekly for good measure. SO I would not do the large pwc's that you have been then see if you get readings, if the ammonia and nitrite stay low or 0 then just do the 10% weekly b/c you must be somewhat cycled or your bioload is very small for your tank. If you do get some higher readings then start doing larger PWC's to keep the levels low.

Do you have live plants in the tank?

 

[Arcadia]

I have some live plants in the tank some horn wort and also some money wort (I think thats what it is called), also I have two other kinds, not sure what they are. My ammonia was up to 2 and got it down, and then one day it was 0 and it has been 0 for 3 days now.

2 black thin pads, and also a white pad was put in from the tank at work and gravel.
I am guessing that is good we put stuff from a working tank in then. I guess i will keep watching my water then, and see what happens. I had nitrites in the water, but I am not really sure how much since, the strips were not working for me.

 

[CatatonicBug]

The filter material from the established tank was definitely a good move. That may have allowed you to completely skip the cycle. Keep those pads in your filter for a few weeks to allow the bacteria to migrate onto your regular filter media. Keep an eye on the Ammonia and Nitrite levels, and if they go above 0, you have not completed the cycle. The filter should be able to handle all ammonia and Nitrites produced in the tank. The 10% PWC weekly should be all you need to do from here on out.

 

[Arcadia]

checked my levels again today

0 ammonia

0 nitrites

5.0 nitrates

what level of nitrates will I need to make sure the cycle is finished? It was kind of between 5.0 and 10

 

[SpeedEuphoria]

well nitrates depends. For example a highly planted tank or not many fish, people Add nitrates to the tank regularly because the plants "use" them. In a tank with little plants and lots of fish normally the nitrates keep going up as there is not anything to remove them fast enough. People normally find that nitrate tests are not very good at measuring low levels like 10ppm.

Anyway so it can be cycled and have 0 nitrates if plants are removing them.

Otherwise just keep it under 20-40ppm with weekly water changes.