Am I Cycled?

[flyhigh]

It has been 10 days since I started my 20G tank. I have added some ornaments and a airstone from my established tank (2 yrs old)
Unfortunately the API freshwater testkit I bought did not have a Nitrate tester.

Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ph - 7.2

Am I to assume I'm done cycling and that the NITRATE levels are good even though I have no way of testing them? Thanks!
Planning on adding some plants this weekend.

 

[modaz]

you need to get the test for nitrates done, your tank for that size will not be cycled yet, but you can put some plants in now

 

[edgun88]

First test your nitrate. That will have your answer.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

It has been 10 days since I started my 20G tank. I have added some ornaments and a airstone from my established tank (2 yrs old)
Unfortunately the API freshwater testkit I bought did not have a Nitrate tester.

Amonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Ph - 7.2

Am I to assume I'm done cycling and that the NITRATE levels are good even though I have no way of testing them? Thanks!
Planning on adding some plants this weekend.

lol, 0 ammonia and nitrite could mean either it is cycled or it's not cycled at all. if you've seen a rise and fall in ammonia and nitrite and now they're down to 0 then yes it's cycled, if they've been steady at 0 then it's not even started.

i'm unsure how a nitrate test would tell people if it's cycled..... if it is there will be a nitrate reading but there's no set amount it should be. if it's not cycled at all most people have some nitrate in they're tap water so you'd still get a reading!

 

[flyhigh]

Well I decided to buy myself a NITRATE test kit. I'm a little lost.

It's day 11 and so far:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
NITRATE - 0
Ph - 7.2

Anybody?

The 4 Danio's are doing great. Very fast movers playing tag.

 

[doresy]

Well I decided to buy myself a NITRATE test kit. I'm a little lost.

It's day 11 and so far:

Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
NITRATE - 0
Ph - 7.2

Anybody?

The 4 Danio's are doing great. Very fast movers playing tag.

looks like it's not started, are you adding food or ammonia if doing a fishless cycle?

 

[flyhigh]

looks like it's not started, are you adding food or ammonia if doing a fishless cycle?

Like I said 4 Danio's and I feed them once Daily.

 

[DarkEntity]

fishy cycle = bad, shame on you

doing a fishy cycle isnt good at all, for the fish of for the tank really. Just remember you are only producing enoungh bacteria to support the fish you have so when adding new fish after the cycle do it very slowly.

it can take 4 weeks to cycle and longer btw.

 

[flyhigh]

I know, shame on me. I have been informed by an oldschool dude. Next time I will do fishless. I promise. Thanks for the info though.

 

[mark.w.jones]

I know, shame on me. I have been informed by an oldschool dude. Next time I will do fishless. I promise. Thanks for the info though.

Leave those 4 for another week and test levels daily. It's likely that you have already had your rise and fall of ammonia and nitrite already. The levels with only 4 danios would not have risen by much. If you still have 0ppm for all levels in a weeks time then you can add you next small school of stock.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

I know, shame on me. I have been informed by an oldschool dude. Next time I will do fishless. I promise. Thanks for the info though.

Leave those 4 for another week and test levels daily. It's likely that you have already had your rise and fall of ammonia and nitrite already. The levels with only 4 danios would not have risen by much. If you still have 0ppm for all levels in a weeks time then you can add you next small school of stock.

could be right.

to cycle with fish you actually need a reasonable amount of them as just a couple will produce such a small bio load that it won't produce any meaningful amount of ammonia to get the cycle going properly

 

[TerraDreamer]

It took my 29-gallon tank 5 weeks to cycle with 5 largish feeder danios. Ten days is not enough time. You need to monitor the water daily. Keep the ammonia at low levels employing routine water changes. Danios are hardy fish and if the cycle is properly monitored, they'll survive. Once my cycling was complete, I returned the fish to the lfs as feeders and purchased my desired stock over a period of a few weeks. Make certain your water test kit is of decent quality and fresh.

Here's a link on the cycling process with fish: Tank Cycling with Fish

And for God's sake, don't hang your head in shame over cycling with fish. No doubt many here who'll chastise you do so with cigarettes hanging from the sides of their mouths.

 

[Amunet]

Yeah don't feel bad about cycling with fish. You're just gonna have to make sure to check your water daily and to do water changes pretty often.
IF you want to start doing fishless cycling though... since it's only been 10days.. you could probably take your fish back to wherever you got them from, get ahold of some pure ammonia and start fishless cycling.