Need advice pleasee :) New tank

[AddictedtoFishNoW]

I just purchased a 50 gallon tank that had came with the works, It was used previously and it had discus fish in there, so all the water settings were ideal for disus fish, with 7.2 ph range, <0.25PPM nitrite, and <20PPM nitrate, <0.25PPM ammonia or even 0. My question is I kept the gravel that had bacteria from the previous owner, and algae inside the tank that also was there prior to buying the tank and I left a few spots on the inside of the tank with the algae to help me with the new cycle. It also has a Emperor 400 that is fully loaded with bacteria from previous tank.. I tested the water this morning after a day that i've had it up running with nothing in there, and all the results are the same as it was when the owner had it.. I wanted to know if I have skipped the cycle because also last night I put a small mini pinch of omega one flake food so that I could test it this morning( which I did) to see if the ammonia would spike or any other results would spike and nothing has spiked.. am I safe to add fish or no this is just the beggining?

 

[librarygirl]

No, to really test the biofilter you should add pure ammonia. If you dont' add an ammonia source, all the levels are going to be perfect, which is misleading. Fish produce ammonia, so to test the bacteria you should provide an ammonia source. Fish food is very inaccurate and it may take a LOT of food over a period of days to raise ammonia level. I'd dose with pure ammonia for at least a week to make sure nothing spikes. Also I'm concerned about his ammonia/nitrite level; in a truly cycled tank, these should be 0. Even discus need 0 ammonia and nitrite, so I'd be very cautious and test the tank thoroughly with ammonia dosings. Also you should be very sure you trust this previous owner, b/c your new fish could potentially get any diseases this tank had previously. Also I hope the filter media stayed wet while it was transferred to you, or else the bacteria may have died off totally.

 

[millerb7]

I agree 100%. Dose it with ammonia. I'm brand new to this hobby and am currently cycling a 29 gallon tank. Ammonia is the way to go... it's real fast compared to other methods and completely harmless to the fish (as there are no fish in the tank).

Dose it to ammonia and check.

Get the API master kit... it's been fantastic addition for me.