Lucy

I have read and re-read the articles about cycling and my head is spinning trying to figure out what my results mean.

Here is what I did:
5g Hex- (modified with an HOB 5-15 from Walmart, fake plant, smooth rocks, no fish)

1/29/08: seeded it with a handful of gravel and used filter from my established 10g
added pure ammonia to 2.0 (yikes, don't know why I added that much)

1/30/08:
Ammonia 2.0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5
pH 7.6

1/31/08:
Ammonia .50
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 7.6

Shouldn't I have a nitrite reading since the ammonia dropped so drastically, or did my bacteria take hold and "eat" it?

Gunnie

Sometimes the bacteria that consumes nitrites can build up quicker than the ones that consume ammonia. Since you added a filter and gravel from a cycled tank that might be what happened in this case. I'm not sure if it makes any difference because I have no experience in fishless cycling, but you might want to increase the ammonia up to 4 or 5 each day as you would with a regular fishless cycle. Don't try to analyze the results too much. It appears that the cycling process is working based on your results, and just know that when the ammonia and nitrites are at zero after 24 hours, you are ready to add fish. You already are showing nitrates, so you are close to being done.

Lucy

Thank you Gunnie, just so I am straight, continue adding ammonia until I get 0 readins after 24 hrs?

MissMTS

If you used a filter from an established tank and it had all of the used media in it with the good bacteria on it, you should not have had to have any ammonia. The tank would have been instantly cycled. This is what I did with my tank of angels. You may want to empty the tank, and add new water and add some water conditioner into it. Then add a fish and see how it goes. Everything should be ballanced and good to go. That's just my

Lucy

Thank you for your input.
I guess I wanted to test my bacteria. I left it alone and tested this morning.

2/1/08:

Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5

I'm going to do a water change, and I think I'm good to go.

Gunnie

Excellent!