Can I Add My Bettas?

[stoberto]

I have started a 10 gallon tank divided into 3 sections for 3 bettas. Today I began fishless cycling. I put Ammonia in (accidentally a little too much) until it was at about 7.0 ppm. I then added a bunch of filter media from my goldfish tank, knowing it would have lots of bacteria. Well tonight, my ammonia is down to about 1.0 and the Nitrites (0 ppm) have all converted to Nitrates. Soooo....I raised the ammonia a little, but as long as it goes down to 0 by tomorrow I think I'm just going to do my water change and add my fish. Does that sound right to you? I'm just a little nervous because the cycling started so fast. It seems like the tank should easily be able to handle the bettas though, correct? Thanks for your help...

Andrew

 

[xJake]

You'd definitely be safe adding your fish. The reason it cycled so fast was because you added the mature media from another tank and the only thing that happened was the bacteria colony size adjusted to the ammonia output of the new tank.