still at it

[Reygan2]

I was afraid of this...I just returned from a 3 day trip and my ammonia was .25. No noticable nitrites, and still a low nitrate reading. So apparently I'm still cycling? I made some changes because I thought my tank had finished cycling and everything seemed fine: I traded in 5 glofish and 6 guppies for 5 black skirt tetras and 4 jumbo neon tetras (finally found a small fish store other than Petsmart, even though it is even further away). I've checked my levels daily since the switch, except for the day I wasn't in town, I tested the day I left and the day I returned. Everything was fine when I left. Is this normal?

 

[librarygirl]

What size tank? It could be the new fish have a higher bioload than your old fish and your tank might just need some time to catch up. You could do a 50% pwc to get the ammonia down a bit and then test every day and keep an eye on things, if it's a mini-cycle it shouldn't last long.

 

[Reygan2]

I'm starting a new tank in my classroom and I can get some BB from the established aquarium in our library. Could someone please remind me the best way to seed a new tank? Should I use some gravel from the established tank? How much? Should I put filter floss in the HOB filter in the established tank? How long?