Cycling my tank

[tha cichlid man]

Ok this sunday it will be two weeks of cycling my tank. 2 saturdays ago I setup my tank I put the water in let the sand settle & then turn the filter on that next day I went to buy a heater & 5 danio went home hook up heater let the temp set and then I put the danios in after that I did a water change on both my 30 & 10 gal first I did the 30 took the old filter cartridge out dip it in the old water a little bit & then I put it in the new filter (aqua clear 70) the same with the 10 gal it was time to change the second stage in my aqua clear mini so I took it out & put it in also along with some gravel in a mesh bag & I stuck a piece of filter floss in back of my heater from my corner filter. Three day later I test my water 0 ammonia 0 nitrite did'nt check nitrate. Another 3 days pass 0 ammonia 0 nitrite still did'nt check 4 nitrate. So yesterday I tested & 0 ammonia 0 nitrite & the nitrate was between 5.0 to 10. So do you think my tank is cycled yet? thank

 

[IceH2O]

Try checking your tapwater for nitrates. If they are present in your tapwater you haven't cycled.

 

[tha cichlid man]

Well it looks like I do have nitrate in my tap the reading are 5.0 so what's taking so long 4 the ammonia & nitrite to raise?

 

[TKOS]

If you added filter material from your old tanks then your new one could very well be cycled, or at least well on its way. The test kits we buy aren't super acurate so there could still be some ammonia and nitrite but not enough to worry about. The old filter material would probably have enough bacteria to deal with the level of waste produced by the 5 danios. Keep testing for the next few days just in case but you are probably fine.

 

[IceH2O]

I totally skimmed by you putting the old filter material into the new filter. I agree with TKOS. You might be cycled but with the low fish load they wouldn't create much nitrates. You're probably cycled.

 

[tha cichlid man]

Well I just tested my water in the tank 4 nitrate & I got between 10 & 20 so it's going up slowly, but it is going up. Thank 4 all the good info guys :clap:

 

[TKOS]

Once it starts hitting around 20ppm then you can start with regular weekly water changes and you can easily start to slowly stock more fish, letting the bacteria catch up before adding too many.