Tank Finished Cycling?

gregor7777

gregor7777

AC Members
Dec 5, 2004
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Hi,

My tank has the following readings as of today:

Am- 0.15 or so
NI- 0.0
NA- 7-8

For about this entire month of Feb. the tank has been at the same amonia levels, but Nitrites have been a 5+ before water changes, and Nitrates have gone up slightly, from around 5 or so.

During January, Amonia levels spiked, then went down and then for Feb until now, my nitrites spiked.

Question: has my tank completed the cycle?

TIA
 
Since you've seen your No2 spike and now its back down to nothing, Id say you're there. A pretty easy way to test is to add enough ammonia to give you around 3ppm and wait 24 hours. If the NH3 is consumed, then Id definately say you're there.

Don't forget the big water change before adding fish. And keep testing daily after you've added fish. Once you've run a week to 10 days and haven't noticed anything climbing, you can drop the testing down to weekly, then eventually biweekly when you are absolutely sure everything is stable.
 
Very nice, thanks. I'll test again today but it looks like the cycle has completed to me as well. Just needed some educated second opinions.

Thanks!
 
Karnaaj said:
The fact that you are getting an ammonia reading above zero indicates that your tank has not finished cycling yet.
Click to expand...

The ammonia level , since spiking and then decreasing, has always hovered between 0 and 0.15. If the nitrite portion of the cycle seems to have completed, what could be causing the ammonia to show?

Overfeeding possibly? I am a bit irregular with my feeding.
 
I would say overfeeding. Ammonia test kits are not so precise that they will detect the ammonia in a cycled tank before the bacteria transform it. There is also the possibility of a bad test kit. You could try taking your water to the lfs and see what they come up with. If your lucky HappyChem will show up and add his two cents worth.
 
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