Advice on new tank levels

[GanaM]

Hi

I've been setting up a bigger tank for the first time, conducting a fishless cycle without ammonia as it's controlled in Australia, so I used fish flakes. To start, I conditioned the water and added API quickstart to the mix. I also added my healthy tank substrate and some filter substrate. I started adding fish food every 12 hours. I've had some odd readings could someone assist interpretation please?

I think the results may be due to adding API Quickstart which has resulted in 0 ammonia readings? By day 4, I had Nitrite readings but no ammonia, which spiked for 2 days then dropped to 0.

Is it possible my filter media has almost instantly cycled the tank or am I doing something wrong?

These are my readings:
Day -1-3 = Ammonia 0
Nitrite - 0
Day 4 = Ammonia 0
Nitrite - 0.25
Day 5 = Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Day 6 = Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0.5
Day 7 = Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Thanks so much!

 

[ZxC]

Hi




Is it possible my filter media has almost instantly cycled the tank or am I doing something wrong?

That is exactly what is supposed to happen, cycled filter media is... well cycled. So if you don't kill off any bacteria during the transfer, the new tank with old filter media will be instantly cycled.