# Has My Tank Cycled?



## Donutz (Oct 5, 2013)

_(raises hand)..._ Noob here wondering if it's possible that my tank cycled in just under a week? With my test results below, I'm assuming my filter is currently capable to dealing with the ammonia and nitrites that are currently being produced given that I'm seeing nitrates but no longer seeing any perceivable ammonia / nitrites.

*Test Results:*

Over the past 6 days of testing my water PH is a solid 7.0:

*Day 1:*
0.25 Ammonia
0.25 Nitrite
5.0 Nitrate

*Day 2:*
0.25 Ammonia
0 Nitrate and Nitrate

*Day 3:*
0 for all 3

*Day 4:*
0 Ammonia and Nitrite
5.0 Nitrate

*Day 5: *
0 Ammonia and Nitrite
10.0 Nitrate

*Day 6: *
0 Ammonia and Nitrite
10.0 Nitrate

Day 5 and 6 could be 20.0 Nitrate, it's really difficult to see a difference in the colours on the API colour chart.

*Background:*

I set up my tank 3.5 weeks ago. My tank is a 15 gallon column tank (I would have chosen a 65 gallon, but this tank is for my son and he chose it), Aqueon Quietflow, Ehiem heater, Fluval Stratum substrate, mildly planted, low tech.

*Week 1: * Substrate (Fluval Stratum for plants... many 4 letter words about this stuff), conditioned water, a few fish flakes, and ran the filter. I did not test the water, but about midweek the tank started smelling like pee (I'm assuming the fish flakes were resulting in some ammonia production).

*Week 2:* Pee smell gone, and a new lovely earthy smell was present. At the beginning of the week I added a large piece of driftwood and planted the tank with 2 pots of Windelov Java Fern, 2 pots of Java Fern, a handful of java moss, 1 Anubias Nana. Mid week I added 4 stalks of Asian Ambula (sp?), 16 Dwarf sag.

*Week 3:* I seeded my tank with 2 huge filters from a friends tank that has been running for more than a year. If you look straight on at my tank, the filters will cover half of the entire view. I also added approx. 4 cups of water from his tank (the filters were in ziplocks with this water so I could transport them home). The day after seeding my tank I added 2 zebra danios, and another small handful of Java Moss.

The day after adding the danios I started testing the water (test results posted above). I have removed the carbon from the filter, added some extra sponge inside the filter (both coarse and fine), a prefilter, and today added Biomax.

I have been doing research and in some corners of the ether people say it is possible to cycle a tank in a week or less, if the stars align and all conditions in the tank are just right.

Thanks in advance for any feedback!


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## Y2KGT (Jul 20, 2009)

I'm not sure why you think your tank cycled in a week when you say the tank has been running for 4.5 weeks in total. 

I would say it IS cycled because you were adding organics to your tank since the beginning so your cycle didn't start when you added the fish at week 3.5 but rather when you added the fish flakes at week one and then in week two the driftwood and plants.

You already had low ammonia and nitrite and some nitrate when you started testing at week 3.5. If your tank wasn't cycled you would have had no nitrate.

Plus you added used media from another tank which would also speed up the cycle process considerably.

Congrats and enjoy your tank. But keep testing to make sure and monitor the fish.
--
Paul


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## Donutz (Oct 5, 2013)

Thanks for your reply, Paul. You raise an excellent point that I clearly hadn't considered. I was thinking that the fish would add a noticeable bio-load, and I would see a significant spike somewhere along the line. I was quite surprised to see nitrates appearing at this point. I have to assume you are correct inthat the flake food and seeding have probably accelerated the process beyond what I expected (assumed). I'll keep testing daily; if everything remains stable I'll add a couple more fish next weekend and continue testing. 

Thanks again!

Jason


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Seeding it can cycle a tank in a day or so. I have seeded tanks and been cycled basically instantly. The seeding along with the low bio load and the readings tells me that the tank is cycled.

But do not add fish too quickly, the tank is cycled for the bio load currently in the tank and it will have to build up more as you add fish, but this happens quickly now that the tank is cycled and has a good base of bacteria


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## TorontoBoy (Mar 14, 2013)

Congrats on cycling your tank. I think you were Ok simply by seeding it with your friend's old filter material, on Day 4. Insta-cycle is very convenient.


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## monk21 (Dec 5, 2012)

In general when your nitrites and ammonia are 0 and your nitrates are >0 then you have a cycled tank. But the most important thing is for it to be able to stay cycled and battle any ammonia spikes. So if the tank is newly cycled and you overfeed, overstock etc ammonia may rise too easily. A properly established/cycled tank should be able to combat this on its own


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Your good luck you had access to a cycled filter with media you could use for seeding. You really had a cycled tank after the first day.. congrats on that. Now just take it slow and don't add too many fish at once, as has been said, and all should be well.

Never feed more than the fish can eat completely in just a minute or two, and once a day is enough unless they are babies, aka fry. Biggest mistake many newbies make, aside from not cycling, is overstocking too soon and then overfeeding.

Feeding fish is fun, but overdoing it can lead to many problems you don't need. Since this is for your son, make sure he does not overfeed for the pleasure of seeing the fish eating either. 

You don't say how old your son is, but if he's quite young, make sure he understands that he must not put anything in the fish tank either, including his hands, his toys, his own food, etc. Toddlers and very young children have on occasion caused major problems for tanks of fish, not on purpose, but because they're too young to understand the consequences of what they might find interesting to do.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

My 4 year old has caused some disasters in his tank causing deaths. Just a week or so ago he dumped a while container of food in, luckily we noticed soon enough and got it out.


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

Exactly ! Don't have children myself.. but I'm glad my cats are past the age where they like to go fishing.

The one we had when I had tanks in school was a very determined fishing cat. She managed to hook out the goldfish once, but I caught her before she did any damage and he survived the experience. I had to build screen tops for my tanks to keep her out after that. 

Screen tops or glass ones are a good way to keep small people out of tanks too, or at least make it a bit harder to get into them.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

Kids always find a way no matter what you do, but every bit helps


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

Fishfur said:


> Exactly ! Don't have children myself.. but I'm glad my cats are past the age where they like to go fishing.
> 
> The one we had when I had tanks in school was a very determined fishing cat. She managed to hook out the goldfish once, but I caught her before she did any damage and he survived the experience. I had to build screen tops for my tanks to keep her out after that.
> 
> Screen tops or glass ones are a good way to keep small people out of tanks too, or at least make it a bit harder to get into them.


I know the feeling. I've been dealing with 2 VERY adventurous cats. I'm setting up a tank for the first time, and had to spend a great deal of time engineering tank. Note suspect A below. Got a wood canopy, and some thin plastic w/ holes cut to cover the open back (damned paws). I am on day 3 of cycle now, and came home to this.


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## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

gotta love cats


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## Fishfur (Mar 4, 2012)

That's too cute. They are ridiculously clever with those paws, aren't they ?


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## woopderson (Feb 12, 2014)

Yeah. They especially like the duckweed on the surface!

Sent from my GT-I9100M using Tapatalk


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