Cycling Tank After Move

[LilBangarang]

I moved my tank over to my new house this past weekend and have it up and running. The problem is that while cleaning out the tank and moving everything I let the decorations and filter media dry out. I also scrubbed the whole tank down and hosed off the gravel. As such I have no viable seed material for setting up the tank. I have kept my fish in a bucket with an air stone, but my two prized blue dolphin cichlids have already died. I've been testing for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I have been reading a steady 3 ppm ammonia since adding some fish food Monday, and none of it has been converted to nitrites/nitrates yet. I can't get my hands on any good seed material until next weekend. What should i do to speed up the cycle? Any comments are appreciated.

 

[Gibberwatt]

I would put the fish in the aquarium, if you haven't done that already - any sized bucket would be extremely stressful for your fish, and would probably lead to death. Just be sure to do a huge water change every day, and you should be fine.

 

[LilBangarang]

Thank you I will put them in. How long will the cycle take with fish in the tank

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[flitabout]

Test your water daily do 50% water changes anytime it gets over .25ppm and if you don't have time to get the change done do a double dose of prime which should get you through until you can get it done. Now it's just a waiting game and you are doing a fish in which is a total pain in the butt.
Cycle with no seed material can take up to 8 weeks, but every tank is different.