Help me figure out whats going on with my cycle

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J

Juice79

Jack Dempsey
MFK Member
Oct 20, 2008
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I have a 175g that was setup as saltwater. Broke it down, removed all the water, rock and sand. I removed the fx5 that was running on the saltwater tank rinsed (in tap water) all the pads and bio media and let it sit and dry for 3 days. Then reinstalled in addition to a 405 with all brand new media.

Added 140lbs of argagonite sand , new rocks (not from SW tank) and all new water. Then added appropriate amount of dechlorinator and half a bottle of cycle i had laying around. 24hrs later I added 10 1.5"-2" africans. And I also went to a friends that has a an african tank for years and squeezed his filter pads out into some of my water and dumped it in the tank.

Tank has been up and running for 36hrs with fish and here are the readings:

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: .8ppm

I cant imagine that after 36hrs my tank has cycled. I think the ammonia just hasnt spike yet to start the cycle. But the Nitrate reading is confusing me. I used 2 different test kits and had the same outcome. Could the Nitrate reading just be from the old water i dumped into the tank from my friends tank? All fish are fine and eating as normal. I welcome your thoughts.
 
How much water did you add from your friends tank? And do you know what his Nitrate levels are?
 
Tap water has no nitrates

And i didnt add any of his water i just rinsed his filter pads in my water and cumped it back in
 
So heres my update and my "cycle" still has me a little puzzled. I have been testing my water every other day since my original post. Tank has been up and running now for 11 days with 12 africans in there. During that time period I had a slight ammonia spike for about 5 days at about .25ppm, Nitrites remained at 0ppm and Nitrates were around 8ppm.
As of today:
Ammonia is 0 ppm
Nitrites are at 0ppm
Nitrates have risen to 10ppm
I am confused becuase I have gotten the ammonia spike as expected but seen no traces of Nitrites to follow. Additionally, my nitrates have slightly risen. Your thoughts on where I am in the cycle are appreciated as I am hesitant to add more fish.
 
I'll say the same thing I said on cichlid-forum: I think the tank is cycled for your current bio-load. If you want a more detailed answer, I can expand, but that's my opinion based on what you've told us.
 
The second you used your friend's filter from an established aquarium, you've basically cut down like 75% of the time you need vs. a fishless cycle. That filter will have all the bacterial you'll need to multiply into what your bioload needs. Remember bacterial is exponential: IE
Fishless: 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 64, 128, 256, 512, 1024
Est. Filter: 10000000000, 2000000000, its a massive jump start, you'll have all the beneficial bacteria you'll need, some will prolly die off if you dont have the bioload to support it. Go back and jack a couple of bioballs or w/e he uses too :P
 
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