Nitrogen Cycle Started In 36 Hrs?

HI all! I’ve been getting such good advice for setting up an upgrade tank for my Betta and I’m wondering could it be time!

I’ve done a 10 gallon live plant build using ecocomplete substrate which promises to help the cycle as well as a full bottle of Dr. Tim’s live nitrifying aquatics and the biosponge from a cycled tank.

Parameters are:
Ammonia is 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 20 ppm
pH is 7.5
GH is still 180 (apparently hard tap water)
KH is 120

The parameters are the same for Elvis’ current tank setup except for the pH which is quite a bit lower 6.5 and also the KH which is 0. I’ve since learned from Fishlore members that KH shouldn’t be 0 since it can lead to unstable Ph. Could it be possible the new tank is already cycled and safe for Elvis. I’m a little concerned it might be too much of a change in pH and I’ve also heard that adding driftwood to a tank can lower the pH. Any advice out there would be helpful.

 

Since you used to sponge it will have started to cycle a lot quicker but no. I wouldn’t say it was safe in 36 hours. There could be a sudden spike in Parameters. There’s no rush so I would wait for at least a full week with continual water tests and if it is still steady then I would add a small no of livestock. The ph needs to be sorted, it shouldn’t be below that for a betta so you may want to look into some ph changers or other natural things you can add. Hopefully someone will come along as elaborate on that!

 

I'm confused. Do you have 2 tanks or 1.

Are you asking whether or not it's safe to add your current betta to your new tank?

If there's a large pH difference you will have to drip acclimate very slowly.

Unless you dose your aquarium with a source of ammonia your bacteria will die, by the way.

 

Cycled media=instant cycle or minI cycle. You have an instant cycle.

 

Test the pH of your tap water. That maybe the source of pH difference.

 

I'm confused. Do you have 2 tanks or 1.

Are you asking whether or not it's safe to add your current betta to your new tank?

If there's a large pH difference you will have to drip acclimate very slowly.

Unless you dose your aquarium with a source of ammonia your bacteria will die, by the way.

Sorry about the confusion. Yes I have 2 tanks. The one Elvis is currently in is 2.5 gallon and I want to transfer him to the 10 gallon. pH is probably lower In small tank because I initially used less tap water for its set up. Isn’t 7.5 a good pH for Bettas though?

Thank you for the acclimate suggestion. I’ll read up on that. I was unaware bacteria will die without ammonia. The bottle on Dr. Tim’s says safe to add fish right away. I don’t have a source of ammonia except food and I got mixed messages about using that to create ammonia because it could lead to algae bloom?

Cycled media=instant cycle or minI cycle. You have an instant cycle.

Thank you for that perspective.. I’ll do a slow acclaimtion to help with the pH.

 

Sorry about the confusion. Yes I have 2 tanks. The one Elvis is currently in is 2.5 gallon and I want to transfer him to the 10 gallon. pH is probably lower In small tank because I initially used less tap water for its set up. Isn’t 7.5 a good pH for Bettas though?

Thank you for the acclimate suggestion. I’ll read up on that. I was unaware bacteria will die without ammonia. The bottle on Dr. Tim’s says safe to add fish right away. I don’t have a source of ammonia except food and I got mixed messages about using that to create ammonia because it could lead to algae bloom?

When it comes to PH, Stability is more important than accuracy.

An 8.0 pH that is stable is better for a fish that needs a 7.5 pH, rather than screwing around with pH using different water sources, or chemicals, etc. So don't worry too much about pH in your case.

You may add fish using Dr Tims immediately IF you constantly dose with Seachem Prime and do frequent small water changes to maintain safe water parameters for your fish.