One week cycle?

[360º]

ok so i have a 25 gallon cycling with three 30gallon filters on it.

its been about a week. i didnt really test much during that week.

yesterday i added 6 baby convict cichlids and still no rise in ammonia or nitrite.

is it possible that its done cycling or are the 90 gallons of filtration w/ carbon just taking care of it all?

 

[mfdrookie516]

what were you using during the first week as your ammonia source. You can have a filter that will handle a 500g tank, but without that beneficial bacteria to convert the ammonia to nitrite then the nitrite to nitrate, you're still going to have ammonia.

 

[360º]

there was some used gravel, and drift wood that i just rinsed off before putting in there.

 

[ilostnemo]

what are you nitrates at? you just talked about ammonia and nitrite

 

[360º]

i dont have a test for nitrates

i did a 50% water change before i added the fish

 

[ilostnemo]

well go buy a kit for it and test it. thats the only way to tell ifs its cycled or not really. unless your now showing ammonia or nitrite

 

[360º]

i just thought after adding 6 fish and feeding them 3 times already, that i'd see a quick spike in ammonia.

and i tested it with the liquid and it just stays clear instead of turning yellow

 

[ilostnemo]

how old is the test kit?

 

[360º]

about 2 months or so

 

[360º]

fed this fish this morning. they all ate and seem happy.

tested the water, still clear on ammonia.

then did a 25% water change

 

[mommytron]

what brand is your test kit? mine is API, and the ammonia is yellow when 0ppm and turns green with any ammonia. just wondering because you said yours is clear.

 

[360º]

hagen i think. it says it turns yellow and orange

 

[mommytron]

did you check the levels again today? maybe it's just taking a little longer for the ammonia to show up. because it seems like the first week you didn't have an ammonia source, and you just added the fish day before yesterday, right? so i'm guessing you will see a spike in ammonia very shortly, and from now on ou should be performing PWCs daily to keep the ammonia .25ppm or lower. your tank is probably not fully cycled, but may not take that long because you have a little seed material.

 

[360º]

yeah i checked the levels and still perfectly clear.

could it be that the carbon in all 3 filters is taking care of the ammonia?

 

[mommytron]

no, carbon does nothing to ammonia. like someone stated earlier, you could have all the filtration in the world and it would still show up.

 

[logansmomma1228]

did you check the levels again today? maybe it's just taking a little longer for the ammonia to show up. because it seems like the first week you didn't have an ammonia source, and you just added the fish day before yesterday, right? so i'm guessing you will see a spike in ammonia very shortly, and from now on ou should be performing PWCs daily to keep the ammonia .25ppm or lower. your tank is probably not fully cycled, but may not take that long because you have a little seed material.

+1

 

[360º]

heres a video of my tank

all fish seem to be happy

YouTube - fish

 

[ilostnemo]

what type of filters are you using?

 

[360º]

2 aquaclear 30 and 1 topfin 30

still no sign of ammonia or nitrite or nitrate

 

[ilostnemo]

in the aquaclears are you using ammonia remover cartiages?