Cycling tank 20 gal

[apafundi]

My tank has 20 pounds of rock, 1 bag of black live sand, and i used a bottle of bio-spira. My ammonia is at 0, my ph is at 8.0, nitrite is at .50 and nitrate is at 0. I have 1 live peppermint shrimp in it. Yes I know I shouldn't have a shrimp in it but it's to late. My question is why don't I have any nitrate? Is that a problem and how much longer for it to cycle

 

[tomtom14]

I don't think you have any nitrate cause it's a new tank. If you have only just got it 4 weeks but then sometimes there can be a double cycle which takes the total up to 6 weeks. So depends how safe you want to be. 4 weeks= ok, 6weeks=good, anything longer to put fish in is amazing. You can put the rest of the clean up crew in on 4 weeks because things like snails and hermits don't create much waste.

 

[apafundi]

Do you believe in bio-spira?