Water parameters in new tank

[TheFragile]

So I had a very established 6.5 gallon tank but it was too small for my stock. Upgraded to a 20 gallon.

Had to change the substrate because my fiancé was tired of the bright colored rocks that my 4 year old chose. I kept all the tank water from the 6.5 to add to the 20. I am currently running my old filter media in the new filter (crummy 10-20 gallon top fin - it came with the set up) along with a top fun 30 gallon filter to try and help the bb grow in the new media.

I know a lot of bb is in the substrate, but now I am worried I will have to cycle again. I've had the new tank set up for a week, and my ammonia is 0 which is great, but so are my nitrates. Did I manage to kill the bb in the process somehow? Maybe the amount of fish I have in the tank are not producing enough ammonia to feed it!? I'm so bummed. The last tank took almost 3 months to cycle.

I thought I did everything right!


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[Delapool]

This looks ok to me. Are you getting any bacterial blooms or is tank looking good? If looking good, might just be everything settling in.

 

[TheFragile]

No blooms. Everything looks good from what I can see.


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[LayzorBeams]

Just give it a bit of time. This looks in order to me... Even if the fish aren't producing enough ammonia to feed the bacteria, it will die off or grow in population as needed, but again, takes time. I would test every two or three days if you can, you should see progress soon.

Most of the BB is in the filter, so you didn't do that much by changing the substrate. Smart play on keeping the media, lots of people seem to forget that... Me included, at least a few years ago


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[TheFragile]

While I may have missed all of the info on cycling when I started (cycled first tank with fish - so clueless even after research but didn't lose a single fish in the process) I did do a lot of research for this. Hoping things move along. I really don't want to have to do water changes every day again to keep those little guys safe!!


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[LayzorBeams]

While I may have missed all of the info on cycling when I started (cycled first tank with fish - so clueless even after research but didn't lose a single fish in the process) I did do a lot of research for this. Hoping things move along. I really don't want to have to do water changes every day again to keep those little guys safe!!


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It should work itself out in quick order. I think it will be fine...


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