Cycle: Finished or not started?

[Kettemoor]

Five days ago I set up my 55 gallon, I added substrate from a betta bowl, added fish food, and for the past day have had my bettas play in the water.

I did a test today of pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate and this is what I got:


pH: 8.2 Really wish this were lower but I have driftwood I will add once I get more tannins out
Ammonia: Between 0 and .25 PPM, the color was hard to tell.
Nitrite: 0 PPM
Nitrate: 5 PPMHas the cycle not started? How can I go through it? I will be adding Zebra Danio as my first fish so I can't tell if I should add some tomorrow or just wait longer.

Thanks

[Rbishop]

Adding the substrate helped get some bacteria in there, but remember, it would only be part of what you need for a small bio-load.

With just a beta in there, it will take a while for a 55 gal tank to show nitrites and most likely, your weekly water changes could result in you never actually seeing them, just a very slow increase in nitrate levels.

[gingerinaustin]

The betta are only visiting, or are they living in the tank?

What are the nitrates in your tap water?

What product are you dechlorinating your water with?

What test kit are you using to measure ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

Are you trying to do a "fishy" cycle (generally requires live fish consistently living in the tank to work) or a fishless cycle (generally requires a consistent addition of pure ammonia to work)? If you are doing a fishless cycle using only fish food and the detritus of a visiting betta or two, I imagine it's gonna take a while to cycle, so best sit back and relax.

Do read this sticky on cycling a freshwater tank. http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=84598

[jm1212]

have you tested your tap water to see if there is any ammoina, nitrite, or nitrate in it?

[Kettemoor]

Yea, the cycle never started. I have some danio in it now to start the cycle and I'm doing water changes so they don't get poisoned