Cycling my tank?

[Bettalover333]

So I recently bought a 60 gallon tank to upgrade from my 20 gallon. I had planned on moving the 5 fish from my 20 (two hatchets, one Cory, and two tetras) over to the big tank as well as the filter media and live plants to seed the aquarium and hopefully help the cycling along. Well, last night I did all of that, and this morning my levels read:
Ammonia:0
Nitrites:0
Nitrates: 5.0

Does this mean my tank is cycled? I was expecting it to take atleast a week or two to stabilize, but it appears to have cycled over night. Has anyone else had this happen? And is it safe to add more fish? Of course, only a few at a time so I don't shock the cycle. Any advice?

 

[Bettalover333]

Oh and btw it is a planted tank.

 

[BBradbury]

Cycling Your New Tank

Hello Bet...

Yes. By moving the media to the new tank. It's instantly cycled. You're right that you can add fish, but very slowly so the bacteria in the media can keep up with the added fish waste. It would be good also, to add some floating plants like Hornwort. Floating plants take in forms of nitrogen through their leaves and keep the tank water cleaner.

If you add fish, monitor the tank chemistry every day or two. If you have any trace of ammonia or nitrite, just remove and replace 25 percent of the tank water. This will leave a little nitrogen in the water to grow the good bacteria and keep the tank water chemistry in the "safe zone" for the fish.

B

 

[Bettalover333]

Thanks! I can't wait to complete my schools!