Aquarium cycling after 4 days?

Hello fellow fishlore-ers,

I just started a fish less cycle of my 75 gallon aquarium on Monday. I’ve been added 1-2 pinches of flakes per day to get the ammonia levels up to begin the cycling process. I also seeded this tank with a few rocks, and some filter media from my other tank to help speed up the process. Filter is a Fluval 407 canister

I decided to measure the water parameters this morning and I got:

1.0 ppm Ammonia
0.0 ppm Nitrite
5 ppm Nitrate

this would seem to suggest that ammonia is being converted to nitrite, and there are already enough bacteria to handle to nitrite load and covert it to Nitrate. But I could be wrong, I didn’t think it would happen that fast. Are there other ways Nitrate levels can rise? Anyone with experience on cycling a seeded tank please let me know your thoughts

 

There could be some nitrates in your tap water. Id check that and see how that turns out first to rule that out as a possibility.

 

most likely an ammonia/nitrate reading from your tap water like Carson says. also with given information you've never seen nitrites which suggests there was no transference from ammonia to nitrates. if you are doing a fishless cycle. buying a bottle of pure ammonia will help your cycle along quickly than waiting for food to putrefy. as suggested. you should test your tap water alone, and you can subtract the tap readings from your tank readings.

 

Hello fellow fishlore-ers,

I just started a fish less cycle of my 75 gallon aquarium on Monday. I’ve been added 1-2 pinches of flakes per day to get the ammonia levels up to begin the cycling process. I also seeded this tank with a few rocks, and some filter media from my other tank to help speed up the process. Filter is a Fluval 407 canister

I decided to measure the water parameters this morning and I got:

1.0 ppm Ammonia
0.0 ppm Nitrite
5 ppm Nitrate

this would seem to suggest that ammonia is being converted to nitrite, and there are already enough bacteria to handle to nitrite load and covert it to Nitrate. But I could be wrong, I didn’t think it would happen that fast. Are there other ways Nitrate levels can rise? Anyone with experience on cycling a seeded tank please let me know your thoughts

i dont think its likely it cycled so fast, since there are no nitrites. even if you did seed it, 4 days is super short

 

If you tap water is all good and there is 5 nitrates reading In the aquarium then it has cycled. Maybe not the strongest cycle but its complete for the ammonia source you are adding.

you wont see nitrite showing unless the seeded media beneficial bacteria can't handle the ammonia level. Then nitrite spikes.

I would add a few fish or just keep going with the flake and up the level of ammonia.

 

There could be some nitrates in your tap water. Id check that and see how that turns out first to rule that out as a possibility.

Nitrates from my tap water are reading 0, double checked aquarium water still showing 5ppm

 

If you are seeing ammonia then no, the cycle isn't done. The nitrates could have come from the seeded media. I am wondering how one or two pinches of fish food only added 2 or 3 times has already produced this much ammonia in a tank this big though.