Tank cycling suspiciously fast?

[Enco]

Hello!
I am trying to do a fishless cycle on my new tank.
On Sunday I set up a brand new 5.5 gallon tank. Everything in it is also new. I had nothing from an established tank to seed this new tank.

On Monday I added pure Ammonia to bring the levels up to 3ppm.
24 hours later I tested and the Ammonia was at 2ppm, and Nitrite was at 1ppm! I did not expect the Ammonia to go down and to get Nitrite readings only after a day!

I tested both twice just to be sure. I am using the API liquid testing kit.
Am I just lucky that the cycle is getting started so quickly? Or maybe having such a small tank is faster?

Just wondering what you guys think about this. Thanks!

 

[Fishperson]

Hmmm...

That's weird. Test your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Are you sure nothing in the tank has been in another tank before? What have you added to the tank (fertilizer, dechlorinator, etc.)? And what substrate are you using?

 

[Mebbid]

How long are you waiting for the water to circulate before testing? It is surprisingly easy to have dead spots in the tank which could cause you to have a skewed reading.

Also, if your cycle is going that quickly then you should be seeing nitrite and nitrate as well. Have you tested for either of those?

 

[jwh0818]

Definitely test your tap water for ammo nitrite and nitrates and also oh is good to know as well

 

[Enco]

Hmmm...

That's weird. Test your tap water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Are you sure nothing in the tank has been in another tank before? What have you added to the tank (fertilizer, dechlorinator, etc.)? And what substrate are you using?

Thanks for the reply!
I added regular ol' API Water Dechlorinator and this "BioClear" liquid packet that came with my sand, but all it says it does is to insure that the new sand doesn't cloud the water.
The tank itself, the filter, the sand substrate, and all of the decorations were bought at Petsmart just a day before setting everything up. (The only thing that is technically from another tank are two tiny decorative rocks that were in an old tank at one point but have been sitting in a drawer bone dry for months. And it is my understanding that what little amount of bacteria that might have been living on them would not survive out of water.)

I'll test my tap water and report back.
Is it physically impossible for a tank to start cycling after a day?

How long are you waiting for the water to circulate before testing? It is surprisingly easy to have dead spots in the tank which could cause you to have a skewed reading.

Also, if your cycle is going that quickly then you should be seeing nitrite and nitrate as well. Have you tested for either of those?

After adding Ammonia on the first day I tested about 5? hours later and got 3ppm as a reading. 24 hours later, I tested for Ammonia and got 2ppm, so it went down. Curious, I tested for Nitrite and got a very clear 1ppm. Skeptical, I retested both Ammonia and Nitrite again, insuring that I did everything correctly, and got the same readings. I did not test for Nitrate.

Tomorrow at 4:00pm (making another 24 hours), I'll test again and report back.

 

[Enco]

Tested again today and my Ammonia and Nitrite are the same (2ppm and 1ppm). Tested for Nitrates today and it was at 5ppm! So to recap, this is how the cycle has been going...

DAY 1: Ammonia 3ppm
DAY 2: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm
DAY 3: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm, Nitrate 5ppm

The results are a bit confusing because isn't it early for a Nitrate reading? The Ammonia isn't at zero yet...
What do you guys think? I did test my tap water and got zero for all three parameters. Advice is appreciated.

Oh, and I should be adding Ammonia into the tank everyday right? I only added pure Ammonia on day 1 to bring it up to 3ppm. But I think I will add some more today to insure that the bacteria stays fed?

 

[jwh0818]

Tested again today and my Ammonia and Nitrite are the same (2ppm and 1ppm). Tested for Nitrates today and it was at 5ppm! So to recap, this is how the cycle has been going...

DAY 1: Ammonia 3ppm
DAY 2: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm
DAY 3: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm, Nitrate 5ppm

The results are a bit confusing because isn't it early for a Nitrate reading? The Ammonia isn't at zero yet...
What do you guys think? I did test my tap water and got zero for all three parameters. Advice is appreciated.

Oh, and I should be adding Ammonia into the tank everyday right? I only added pure Ammonia on day 1 to bring it up to 3ppm. But I think I will add some more today to insure that the bacteria stays fed?

You only add ammonia when the ammonia in your tank hits 0.25 or 0.50. You dont wanna overwhelm your Beneficial Bacteria

 

[walklong]

Tested again today and my Ammonia and Nitrite are the same (2ppm and 1ppm). Tested for Nitrates today and it was at 5ppm! So to recap, this is how the cycle has been going...

DAY 1: Ammonia 3ppm
DAY 2: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm
DAY 3: Ammonia 2ppm, Nitrite 1ppm, Nitrate 5ppm

The results are a bit confusing because isn't it early for a Nitrate reading? The Ammonia isn't at zero yet...
What do you guys think? I did test my tap water and got zero for all three parameters. Advice is appreciated.

Oh, and I should be adding Ammonia into the tank everyday right? I only added pure Ammonia on day 1 to bring it up to 3ppm. But I think I will add some more today to insure that the bacteria stays fed?

Could be wrong about this, but I'd be suspicious that the day 1 NH4 test was off: maybe skewed high because of a circulation issue or some such. You don't have dead bugs in the water do you? I'd be suspicious of city water having biological activity - critters in the water supply would account for the apparent cycling while NH4 etc are too diluted in the tap water to register on the API test.

 

[jwh0818]

Could be wrong about this, but I'd be suspicious that the day 1 NH4 test was off: maybe skewed high because of a circulation issue or some such. You don't have dead bugs in the water do you? I'd be suspicious of city water having biological activity - critters in the water supply would account for the apparent cycling while NH4 etc are too diluted in the tap water to register on the API test.

If they are to diluted to register then there isnt a problem. We account for whats registered on the test results. It is by no means crazy to have results like that from day 1. Ive cycled tanks in 9 days before with no bottled BB or seeded media

 

[walklong]

If they are to diluted to register then there isnt a problem. We account for whats registered on the test results. It is by no means crazy to have results like that from day 1. Ive cycled tanks in 9 days before with no bottled BB or seeded media

I was offering some out-there possible explanations. You're right, of course, at the end of day no ammonia or nitrite is the goal (since we can't observe the BB's directly).

 

[Enco]

Could be wrong about this, but I'd be suspicious that the day 1 NH4 test was off: maybe skewed high because of a circulation issue or some such. You don't have dead bugs in the water do you? I'd be suspicious of city water having biological activity - critters in the water supply would account for the apparent cycling while NH4 etc are too diluted in the tap water to register on the API test.

Haha no dead bugs. The tank is clean and the water is crystal clear. And I don't have city water.

If they are to diluted to register then there isnt a problem. We account for whats registered on the test results. It is by no means crazy to have results like that from day 1. Ive cycled tanks in 9 days before with no bottled BB or seeded media

This is relieving to hear! I love the fact that my tank is cycling quickly, but it did worry me that something wasn't right. I guess I'll just monitor everything and at the end of the day if the parameters are right and Ammonia is able to break down then it must be cycled.

Thanks everyone for your input so far!

 

[jwh0818]

Haha no dead bugs. The tank is clean and the water is crystal clear. And I don't have city water.

This is relieving to hear! I love the fact that my tank is cycling quickly, but it did worry me that something wasn't right. I guess I'll just monitor everything and at the end of the day if the parameters are right and Ammonia is able to break down then it must be cycled.

Thanks everyone for your input so far!

Being that yours cycled so fast, after its cycled I'd monitor it for a week to make sure its cycled properly.

 

[Enco]

Being that yours cycled so fast, after its cycled I'd monitor it for a week to make sure its cycled properly.

Absolutely. I'll definitely keep a close monitor just to make sure.

 

[jlk]

Can you please post your numbers for your tap water (amm, nitrite, nitrate)? I suspect if you have nitrite/nitrate readings from day 1, it's from your tap not because your your cycle has started yet.

 

[Enco]

Can you please post your numbers for your tap water (amm, nitrite, nitrate)? I suspect if you have nitrite/nitrate readings from day 1, it's from your tap not because your your cycle has started yet.

I had Nitrite on the second day and Nitrate on the third day. I posted somewhere in this thread that I did test my tap water and got zero for all three parameters.

Right now my cycle seems to be in a stand-still, I'm getting the same readings every day. So it seems as though things got started super quick but are now just coasting at a normal pace. All I can do at this point is just test daily until things look good.

 

[Enco]

[So, I just recently found out that my Nitrate bottles were expired. The Nitrate readings are invalid up to yesterday. However, the Ammonia and Nitrite bottles were not expired, so their results are still valid for the whole cycle. Still, today I just bought a whole new master test kit to be sure.]

My results continue to be confusing. Throughout this whole cycle, Ammonia has not dropped below 2ppm. Yet, Nitrite rose to 1ppm and then dropped to 0 yesterday and today. Nitrate (new bottle) is at a little less than 5ppm today.

1. How could Nitrite rise and then drop to zero with no change from Ammonia?
2. Shouldn't the Nitrates have risen more with Nitrite becoming zero?
3. Even though Ammonia has not been able to go below 2ppm, should I add more?

Help is very much appreciated!

P.S. Here is a chart of what I explained above to create a clear visual:

DAY 1. Ammonia: 3ppm, Nitrite: 0ppm
DAY 2. Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite: 1ppm
DAY 3. Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite: 1ppm [Added 1ppm of Ammonia today]
DAY 4. Ammonia: 3ppm, Nitrite: 1ppm
DAY 5. Ammonia: 3ppm, Nitrite: 1ppm
DAY 6. Ammonia: 3ppm, Nitrite: 1ppm
DAY 7. Ammonia: 3ppm, Nitrite: .50 ppm
DAY 8. Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite: 0ppm
DAY 9. Ammonia: 2ppm, Nitrite: 0ppm, Nitrate: 5ppm