Does This Sound Ok?

[GRJ]

Ok, so ihave had my tank runing for 3 weeks now, the last two weeks i have had 5 platies in there to cycle, very carefully by doing regular daily water changes. I have been donated some media and gravel from a mature tank, put the media sponges in the basket of my external filter and laid the gravel over the top of my gravel. Now, should i just leave it now and keep testing daily or do i still do daily water changes? I have no idea how long it will take for the donaed media to 'kick in'. Should i expect ammonia and nitrite levels to rise and fall or not? I will be glad of anyones opinions. GRJ

 

[dthoffsett]

Your tank will still go through a normal cycle, just faster with the donated media. You'll still want to test daily, and do water changes if the ammonia and nitrite levels are high.

 

[rdd1952]

The gravel really won't make any difference. There is a very small amount of bacteria in the gravel but not enough to worry with. For bacteria to colonize, there has to be water flow to bring food. The amount of water flow through the gravel is minimal at best. The bacteria in the filter should begin to process ammonia immediately. Just keep testing as you mentioned until you get readings of zero for both ammonia and nitrite for a full week and then you can add a few more fish.