Fishless cycling question

[Stefanie]

This is only my second cycle total, the first one I did with fish, because I did not know any better.
I guess it is less a question rather than needing reassurance on what I am doing:
I added Ammonia to the completely set up tank (decoration, plants, ...) on Sunday to a level of 5 ppm, and checked my water daily since.
Monday and Tuesday I squeezed the floss of my other tank into the new tank, trying to get some bacteria in there.
Yesterday I read 0 Nitrites and below 10ppm Nitrates (from tap water).
Today I read 1-2 ppm Nitrites and only about 0.25 ppm Ammonia. My Nitrates went up to about 40 ppm.
I remeasured everything and got the same results (I use drop tests).

Now here are my questions:
Is this normal it can be so fast? My fist tank took 4 weeks to cycle!
Is it correct that I should replenish Ammonia to 2-3 ppm?

Also, to anyone who has not tried fishless cycling yet, I can only recommend it. It is so much more easier and relaxing not having to worry about the fish you let swim in a toxic "soup" all day!

 

[Karnaaj]

Yes you need to keep the level of ammonia up so that the ammonia eating bacteria have enough food. I doubt that your tank cycled that quickly.

 

[Stefanie]

Thank you for your reply!
I don't think it finished cycling, but it definitely started. My previous experience was just that I did not see any nitrites for about 10 days, and now it has only been 4 days and I was wondering if this is normal, to see it started at all after only a few days.
I will add some more ammonia and then recheck tomorrow. Let's hope all will be going well.

 

[ArkyLady]

You want to add enough ammonia once each day to get it in the 3-5ppm range (3ppm is plenty). With good seeding from an established tank, what you're seeing isn't unusual at all.

When you can add your ammonia one day then see 0 ammonia and 0 nitrItes the next day, your tank is cycled. I usually make sure I'm back to 0 on both readings for 2-3 days in a row before I call it done. After that, do a large water change (I do 80% or so), then add your fishies

If you can't add your fish at the same time your cycle completes, just continue feeding the ammonia until you can to keep things going.