Tank cycled in a week?

[reignman40]

I know this is weird so I'm wondering if this is possible.

I have a new 20 gall tank I set up about a week ago. I inherited a Betta that was living in a "tank" that was more like a tall glass of water then a tank. I ran the tank for 48 hours with nothing in it to let the water clear up and everything. I put the Betta into it the 2nd day as I figured it couldn't be much more unhealthy then the tiny living quaters and week old water he was in anyway. When I put him in I poured about half of the "glass" of water that he was living in, into my 20 gall. I figured maybe any waste or bacteria that built up might help the cycling process. Maybe not but hey I'm new and it seemed logical.

Anyway it's been a week and I just tested Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates. Unless I screwed up the simple tests the Ammonia tested 0 and Nitrites also tested 0. Nitrates tested I believe around 5-10.

My question is... Is it possible the tank is cycled or did I do something wrong.

Thanks in advance,
Curtis

[Kasakato]

It MAYBE possible. But not likely. What kind of test kit are you using? Have you tested your tap water?

[Blinky]

A 2" fish in a 20g tank isn't much of a bio-load, so I doubt you'd see a large ammonia spike. There may have been some bacteria in the water, just enough to start populating the filter media and take care of the minimal load. The tank is still very young, so if you're adding fish I'd take it slow: add one more fish (or several very small fish), test regularly and do water changes if you see a spike, then give the filter a few weeks to build up a larger population of bacteria before adding more fish.
Lucky betta, he must be happy being the king of a 20g tank after living in the small 'tank' ;)

[wunderkind]

I agree with both comments.. I'm not a expert, but i'm found that my tanks seems to 'cycle' rather quickly when i do exactly what you just did.. well not exactly what you did but sounds similar..the key is to as said above add fish gradually.. to slowly increase the biofiltration.. i made the mistake a few times of over stocking after i thought the cylce was done.. just because you tanks is reading 0 for the 2 first N's and testing positive for that last doesn't necessarily mean your 'tank' is cylcles but the water is cycles and has enough biofiltration for the your single fish thats in the tank..
however i've never owned betta's before and i now close to nothing about them so i wouls research a little about them too if you already haven't.. as certain fish produce different amounts of waste..

[id10t]

My tank cycled in about a week, but I used media from a friends well established tank as a kick-start. The one fish won't be much of a bio-load - bring it up slowly and expect a mini-spike if you add more than a smallish new bio-load (a few small fish, one bigger fish, etc).

[uwish]

The only way a tank will cycle in a week is if you use either an established filter, or established water. A completely new set up will take at least 3 weeks, there is no way to speed up the process.

[Kasakato]

ID say at least 5 weeks. But theres no point of rushing it, so talk your time.

The way you can speed up your cycle is use soemthing called "Bio Spira". Its bottled bacteria the tanks about a week max to grow and support your fish.

[id10t]

I was going to use Bio Spira but I read that it is very sensitive to how it is handled/stored/shipped/etc. Makes sense, it is a living thing after all.

Anyway, the only real "kickstart" that actuallly reliably works that isn't dependant on how it was stored or if the UPS driver left it on the sunny side of the truck while he ate lunch or whatever is to use established media from some other healthy tank.

[Kasakato]

Ay some Big Als in the US (o wait theres only 1) may have Bio Spira. Other wise if you get it shipped make sure they pack it with a cooler. The temp has to be below 5*C, but keeping it stable is more important.