Need help to know if my cycle is done

[Ollie76]

Hey, I’ve been doing an in fish cycle for a couple of weeks now with some Tetra SafeStart+. The minnows that I’ve been cycling with look to have no problems. Just yesterday I noticed I had some algae growth, and I thought you got algae with nitrates however my test kit shows no ammonia, nitrites, or nitrates. Could someone please tell me if my tank is done cycling or almost done?

 

[Azedenkae]

If you think about it in human terms, say you go to a banquet. Originally, there is food. But because humans consume food, eventually there is none left (unless the food is bad lol). So if you check after you have humans at the banquet, you will not see food, despite knowing humans consume food. Same with algae and nitrates. :3

Anyways, when fish-in cycling, the presence or lack thereof of nitrate does not matter. So long as the tests are being done correctly, all you care about is that ammonia and nitrite is zero, then your tank is cycled for the current bioload.

 

[jdhef]

It may just be that your nitrate level is too low to register on the test kit. But with 0ppm ammonia and 0ppm nitrites, I would say it sounds like you are cycled.