Ive been cycleing a new ten gallon tank for about a week and a half. My nitrite levels have already come down to zero. My test kit only test to 5ppm, but the level were at the highest level last week. Sunday night they were at 1 ppm and then forth past two days they have been at zero. I didn;t add pure ammonia. I added fish food to the tank everyday and let it rot. It is a fishless cycle. Could it be finished already?
cycling this fast?
- Thread starter jennypenny
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If you used some kind of bacterial seeding (sponge form established tank) then yes. If you are starting from scratch, then probably not.
If the tank was cycled, you would also have nitrate readings. 
It can be kind of tricky to go fishless with adding fish food, hard to really tell how much is enough to keep things going. My guess would be that you aren't adding enough? Maybe someone can chime in on that.
It can be kind of tricky to go fishless with adding fish food, hard to really tell how much is enough to keep things going. My guess would be that you aren't adding enough? Maybe someone can chime in on that.sorry I was think you wrote nitrite not nitrate. Ill have to keep my Ns strait. I haven't picked up a Nitrate test yet. I expected The Nitrite to stay higher longer. I know the level will still flux after I put fish in I just want to make the tank as fish friendly as I can.
It is probably the case that you have a very small population of the bacteria you need, so yes, you are cycled. BUT, the population of bacteria will need to grow and so it may be that when you add fish you may still see a small spike. I'd think that if the food you added each day is about the same amount you would feed the fish each day, then you may be in good shape.
It would be interesting to know, can you follow up with the info after you add fish to let us know if the tank spiked again, and how much.
It would be interesting to know, can you follow up with the info after you add fish to let us know if the tank spiked again, and how much.
Just adding food to the tank isnt enough to cycle it the fish make ammonia in a urine not from food. If you want a fishless cycle you might consider adding plain ammoina that you can get a walmart for like a dollar
Ammonia comes from more than just fish (and it is not in fact their urine). Decomposing organics produce ammonia just fine. The problem is that you can't regulate the amount of ammonia produced, meaning you can end up with a very small bacteria colony that would be overwhelmed by the ammonia production of a fully stocked tank. Stocking slowly, as has others urged, is entirely appropriate.