Am I cycled?

[FishQuest]

0.25 ammonia, 2.0 nitrite, 10 nitrate. Its been half a week since I did a 50% water change and its time for my filters first clean on Sunday.

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[Fresh2o]

No. Ammonia and nitrite should be zero and nitrate could be anywhere from 20-160 (depending on what your water change schedule is).
If this is a fishless cycle, I would not imagine the filters needing to be serviced. When you do clean the filter, only rinse/swish the filter media in water your have removed from a water change.


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[FishQuest]

Fish in cycle. 8 danios, one death, the smallest danios, happened when my nitrite first spiked, so now 7 danios. Today 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 10 nitrate, I'm cycled.

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[Chesmok]

Be careful even when you're cycled you can still get ammonia spikes if you overfeed or add too many fish too quickly. Stock slowly so the beneficial bacteria can catch up to the bioload.


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[ppo8820]

Not cycled! Also, do not clean your filters with tap water or add new sponges, as this will kill the bacteria you are working to grow. Nitrites are a pain and take FOREVER to go down. Mine took 3 weeks plus a few days. I was so bored and frustrated, but then one day, they were gone. I got a nice sky blue on my API test kit reading. You want 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, and your nitrates will probs be off the chart after all this cycling so you will need to do a water change. The good range is 5-20 for the most part. Keep at it, its worth it. I now have an extra strong bacteria colony in my tanks and have seeded new tanks with the original filter so much quicker.