hello; Very much my take as well. The water holds little if any bb.The established media is the key.
hello; Very much my take as well. The water holds little if any bb.The established media is the key.
Beneficial bacteria lives on all surfaces inside the aquarium gravel included decorations live plants your name all of those things will help kickstart the cycle in a tank. Sometimes it’s not possible for someone to get any cycled media but you can buy a live plants from a pet store that will have beneficial bacteria on it. Heck you could put the cycled gravel in inside your filter for that matter.Do you have a friend/acquaintance fish keeper in the neighbourhood who could lend you some established media (a sponge for example)?
I have been back into tropical fish for the last 15 years and have only cycled a tank once. When I want to set up a new tank or have torn down an old one for a while, I fill the new tank with 80%-85% fresh water, treat for chlorine, add heater and empty filter and run a few hours to make sure temperature is where it needs to be.
Then I add a sponge from my established tank (or two if it is a bigger tank) and Bio-Max from my established tank and immediately add the new fish and top off with some old tank water. I have done this with sensitive Tanganyika fish, even wild caughts and never lost a fish. I am careful not to feed too much the first week nor add too many fish that week.
I have set up tanks at work a 15 min. drive away using the same method; bringing media from home, keeping media submerged in tank water in a bucket, and doing the transfer as soon as I arrive at work. I am not sure how long media can retain beneficial bacteria without circulation and how much temperature change the media can handle, so I try to be quick with this scenario and not press my luck.
I have heard some people say to add mostly established tank water and established gravel but I have not found that to make a difference myself. The established media is the key.
Your nitrite has not cleared out yet
Nitrate looks great at 40ppm on a fully cycled tank.
If it was my tank, I would add 1/4" cup of ammonia per 100 gallons, until ammonia is in the 2-5 ppm green, and wait until its back into the yellow. At 0ppm.
I actually haven't done any water changes since my nitrite levels were through the roof. Soooooo there must be some explanation as to why the nitrite went awayYou must have done a water change. That nitrite doesn't just go away. It turns into nitrate by nitrite-oxidizing bacteria. So this doesn't tell us anything.
You also need to shake nitrate solution #2 like crazy for at least 2 minutes when testing. Not doing so can give a false negative.