Fishless Cycle With Mature Media ?'s

[newfishgirl]

Hi everyone, I am having a bad case of new tank syndrome. (See 'need help dealing with new tank syndrome')
Anyways, I've decided to take my last two danios back to the store and continue the cycle fishless.  I have read all the material about fishless cycling on these forums (thank you!) and am pretty sure I can do it.  I have the test kit and will be looking for the ammonia this weekend.
I've done a test with these results so far as a base reading.  The results are: pH is 7.6, Ammonia is 8ppm (at least), Nitrite is .25ppm, and Nitrate is 0ppm.
I have a heater that can not be adjusted and stays at 76 degrees Fahrenheit.  Oh, and it's a 10g tank that I will be stocking with fish recommended from that lovely post by Sylvia.
My friend is going to give me her mature filter media along with some gravel. I'm going to do another reading after I add that stuff but I'm not sure how long I should wait til I do it. Suggestions?
Also, since I'll have the mature media in it and my ammonia is already so high, should I add more? I assume probably not but I'm not going to go by instincts anymore since 7 of my 9 fish have died.
I think that's it for now, I'm sure there will be more later. Thank you in advance!
 

 

[TwoTankAmin]

8 ppm of ammonia is too high. Do at least a 50% water change before trying to proceed. If that doesn't get it down to between 3 and 4, change more. Do not put the new media in until you do the water change.

 

[cowboy507]

Agee with above. Are you making sure to shake your testing kits before you add the drops? 8 seems really high and could be an error. With the mature media this should make the process faster.

 

[newfishgirl]

Ok, so I've got my ammonia down to 1ppm. Is it ok to put the mature media in now and what's my next step? I assume I'll need to test it again, how long should I wait? Should I add ammonia or use flake food to bring the ammonia back up to 3-4ppm? Again I assume ammonia but I'm just checking.

 

[attibones]

If you use bottled ammonia, you can know exactly how much to put in to get your levels correct for cycling. Using food is less reliable, as you kind of have to guess about how much food creates how much ammonia. I use a syringe (no needle) to draw up the correct amount of ammonia, so I'm always sure of how much I'm adding.

Go ahead and put your media in. You'll be needing it soon. Test an hour or so after you put it in. Then do it again a few hours later, or you could simply wait until tomorrow.

 

[This Old Spouse]

If the mature media is enough to handle a 10g tank, you should be cycled almost immediately. What size filter did the media come from?

 

[newfishgirl]

It was from a 5g tank with 4 fish and a snail in it. I'll continue this tomorrow and see where it's at. Thanks!