Is it cycled?

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Xena45

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Mar 22, 2005
Messages
16
Location
Wisconsin
My 15G tall tank has been set up for about 3 months ago, and I've been cycling with 3 female bettas. They've been happy and healthy throughout the process. I've done gazillions of water changes.

Today, I tested it and got 0 for both ammonia and nitrite (YAY!), but I don't see any readings at all for nitrate. okay, maybe it's a very strong yellow (i.e, zero, on the freshwater master test kit card), but nowhere near orange (which woud put it at 5 mg/L, I think).

This has been slow going, but it seemed like everything was going as it should be: I had ammonia for a while, then nitrite for a long while, and now they're both gone. But shouldn't I have a nitrate reading now?

I did add 3 walmart plant bulbs three or so weeks ago, and the plants are now approximately 8 inches tall, so they've been growing like crazy. Would that effect the nitrate reading?

Is the tank finally cycled now?

Can I get a dwarf gourami to live with the girls? my ph is high... can they deal with that? they're so pretty......

Thanks!

X
 
From the sounds of it, you are cycled and your plants are just eating up the nitrates. I personally wouldn't worry about it.

As for the gourami, I personally feel it wouldn't be a problem.
 
Plants absorb nitrate so it's not unusual to get a 0 reading. That is one of the benefits of a planted tank...no worries about the three badies whatsoever. :D
 
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