Cycled already?!?!

[Mustangman11224]

Hey all. I just set up a 75 gal tank about 4 days ago... I don't really have anything in it yet but the sand substrate and two little rock houses. Anyways I added a bio bag to my filter... It was the bio bag from
My ten gal tank... Which is already cycled... I have been dosing with ammonia drops and have had the temp at 80 degrease. this morning I checked and the ammonia was almost at 0... I added more ammonia and I got home from work and the ammonia is basically at 0. How did my 75 gal tank cycle that fast... My 36 gal took like 3 months? Could the amonia be diluting or something. It's only been 4 days.
Thanks for the help
Dan

 

[flitabout]

Well if you used the bio bag from another cycled tank that's all it took What are your nitrites and nitrates at? That will actually tell you if it's cycled or not.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Well it seems to still b a little unstable nitrites went up a little to between 0 and .25 ppm I'll give it another couple days I guess... I'm going to be adding my driftwood in and my plants in on Thursday. Should I for as long as I don't have fish in this tank, I should
Continue to add ammonia right? And when should I remove that old biobag in a couple weeks?
Thanks for all the help I could have never gotten any of my successful tanks up and running without the help from everyone!

 

[librarygirl]

What ammonia are you adding, what brand? What's the percentage of ammonia in it? If it's weak you may not be adding enough. Also for a 75 gal tank you want to make sure you're adding enough ammonia as it will take more to get it up to 4 ppm. Did you test after you added the ammonia? Did you get it up to 4 ppm and then it went down to 0? Here's a calculator to figure out how much ammonia to add (scroll down a bit to the ammonia calc): Calculator Even if you used a bit of media from a smaller tank I doubt it would be enough to cycle a 75 gal in 4 days. I wouldn't rush the process particularly if you're seeing nitrites now. Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice

 

[Mustangman11224]

Thanks so much and it's dr timms aquatic fish less cycle ammonia it's 1 drop per gallon. I checked my tank before I left, and ammonia and nitrites were zero after I added and checked it last nite. My ammonia was 2-3 ppm
Last night... I'm Going to wait and keep checking. I'm going to
Add my dw and some plants Thursday but with no fish I'm going to wait another week and see how it is .. I never had a tank cycle that fast my 10 gal was about 3 months
Thanks for all the help
Dan

 

[liulady]

I think you are well on your way to a completed cycle. However, I used that exact same ammonia to cycle my 30 gallon tank and I had to add way more than 1 drop per gallon to get my water up to even 2-3 ppm. I think I settled on about 60 drops for my 30 gallon tank to get it at a 3.

So, be sure to test a while after adding the ammonia to make sure that you are dosing up to where you want to be.

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok thanks I will do that. If I add my driftwood and plants into the tank tomorrow will that screw up the cycle? Or will it b ok? I'm not adding any fish yet just driftwood and plants.. Will the ammonia kill the plants?

 

[Mustangman11224]

Ok so I just tested my tank and I have nitrate at 20-40 ppm my nitrites are at 0-.25ppm and my ammonia which I dosed this morning to between 2-3 ppm is now at .50 I'm going to dose again all the way up to 4 ppm tonight. But with a nitrate reading at 20-40 ppm should I do a water change tomorrow when I add my driftwood and plants in? I won't add any fish prob for another week to make sure this is actually cycled, I'm
Soo Leary with how fast this happend and how easy it was.
Thanks for the help in advance
Dan