can a small tank cycle faster?

[hippy guy]

I have a 3.5 or 4 gal that cycled literally overnight. Raised ammo to the purple on my api test, and over night went to zero! I added some very well estqblished filter matiereal to a 3 gal airstone powered filter (as much filter matiereal as I could stuff in there and it still work)
Is this possible? Its been a week and steady with a small betta in it...

 

[eco23]

Sure! In your case it's about the amount of bacteria you brought over compared to bio-load (or ammonia). Say the media came from a 55 gallon which was chewing through ammo and no2... by introducing it to a small tank, it instantly can handle the ammonia you're throwing at it simply because theres so much bacteria. We use the same basic idea when setting up QT's by introducing established bacteria from the main tank to a smaller one and having it pretty much insta-cycle. Never seen a purple shade on an API kit though, lol.

 

[hippy guy]

It gets purp. At super high ammo...or maybe that was trites..iduno..but its all zero now

 

[zparticle]

My little 5 gallon betta tank cycled instantly with seed material from another tank.

 

[hippy guy]

Hmm ik new it would be lickety split, but I was honestly expecting some sort of mini cycle..but alas, its all good and still steady