20 long is finally cycled

[10Gallon]

It's been a month since I started the fishless cycle. I started with some filter media from the 10 gallon. Didn't seem to jump start anything. I ended up buying 3 brands of bacteria in a bottle, including Dr Tim's directly from his site. Didn't speed things up. But last week while doing a WC on the 10G, I took the pre filter sponges from the 10 and squeezed them out in the 20. Done! After that I could put 1-2 drops per gallon of Dr Tim's ammonium chloride and the ammonia would go almost back to 0 in 24 hours. And the nitrates are going up. I add ammonium chloride every day to keep the bacteria fed until I get some fish. Tomorrow is a day off for me so I'm going to do about 75% WC to get nitrates down. Then go to the LFS and hopefully he has 4 Dwarf Neon Rainbows. I'll start with 4 for now. Can't wait to get them! Don't know why it took so long with all the bacteria I added, but it's done and I'm happy.

 

[Angellove78]

Congrats! Hope the store has your fish. Enjoy and good luck!

 

[Barliman]

Well done, patience pays off.

 

[10Gallon]

The LFS only had 3 Dwarf Neon Rainbows, 2 males and 1 female so I got them. He said they should get more in next week, so I'll get more. They're doing well. I check the ammonia and nitrite twice a day and it's good.