Fishless cycle (not quite the right way)

[Ice Man]

Recently I got 25g to replace my 10g freshwater tank.
I am one of these guys who never read "instruction manual". So, I filled my 25g with gravel, water, added some store bought bacteria, and used filter from my 10g tank as a "seed material". I assumed that after a week it will be cycled and safe to move a fish or two. In meantime I started reading about fishless cycle and joined AA forum. Here I learned about proper fishless tank cycle with use of ammonia. Yesterday, 10 days after initial setup I changed about 40% of water. Today, after my API Master Kit have arrived I have run water tests. My reading are:

ammonia 0 ppm

nitrite 0.25 ppm

nitrate 20 ppm

ph 8

I assume that there are some good bacteria developed in my tank. I was adding fish food, 3 or 4 times during these 10 days. I also had used dirty filter from my 10g tank. Water temp is kept at 74F.
My question is:
should I get ammonia, add to 4ppm and then have it tested after 24 hours to see if its gone? (just like in last step of fishless cycling),


I planing on building undergravel filter attached to power head, just waiting for my power head to arrive.

I am looking forward to buy new fish but I don't want to make any major mistakes in setting up safe tank for them.

 

[LyndaB]

Your seeded media helped your cycle along. The bottled bacteria..... meh.

You don't need the ammonia as the fish food provided the same result. I would test again tomorrow and see what your numbers are. Be sure to really bang the nitrite testing bottle against a cabinet prior to use as it tends to crystalize. If your numbers are accurate, you're almost cycled.

Under gravel filters don't have the best reputation. Please be sure to research more prior to setting that up. Their reliability also depends on how you stock your tank.

 

[librarygirl]

I actually would dose ammonia; it's a lot more reliable than fish food as to how much ammonia you are adding to the tank and in 24 hours we'll get a good idea as to how much conversion is happening. The nitrite will either come down or get higher; if it does spike you don't want fish in there.

I'd dose ammonia for a few days and test after 24 hours, see where ammonia and nitrites are then.

 

[LyndaB]

Interesting, I wouldn't have dosed only because they are so close to being cycled. If they are already 0 ammonia, why raise that number?

Shows what I know.....

 

[eco23]

I think Lynda and Librarygirl both have valid opinions.

Just remember that being "cycled" is about more than just the #'s, it's about how much beneficial bacteria there is and how large of a bio-load it's capable of handling. So if you do decide to add fish...do it very slowly and lightly, monitoring water parameters every day and being ready to do pwc's as necessary.

 

[Ice Man]

I am giving my 10g with fish away to my neighbor's daughter. I will keep only two fish, chinese gold algae eater and angel fish. They will be the first one to call new 25g "home". 2 fish to start with. Then I will observe for a week with daily water tests. Hope for the best.
Thank you LyndaB, librarygirl and eco23 for your suggestions.
I will post some pictures soon.