Fish In Cycling- Day 18

[pandaq]

I'm a newbie to fish keeping, and I purchased fish before I knew about fishless cycling, so I've been cycling with 3 Phantom tetras and a pair of gold dust mollies.

I've got a 29 gallon, with a aquaclear 50 filter. I purchased the API master test kit on the recommend from members here, and I've been testing daily. I've been doing 20-30% water changes ( using TSS as a water conditioner) when I get any detectable readings, and I've added Stability to the tank every day with water changes. so far everything has looked perfect, Fish look awesome, have literally doubled in size and look really healthy. For the last 4 days I've got steady 0 readings for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite.

I haven't kept a log of readings...( probably a dumb move on my part!) But my question is...is it possible that my tank is cycled? my ammonia peaked on approx. day 4-6 then went down to 0 by about day 8, then nitrite peaked on days 7-8 went down to 0 by day 10, then nitrate peaked on days 10-12, then went down trace to nothing by day 14....I've done 20-30% water changes until day 14...i've let it sit to make sure my changes weren't affecting my readings.
This is all approximate, but I've noticed a trend ( cycle) in readings, I'm just not sure if i could possibly be t the end of my cycle already? I just tested the water a few minutes ago...i'm getting nothing. The Stability and TSS Claim to speed up the cycle process, but I've been told it's a bunch of BS? I'll keep testing to ensure my fish stay happy, but does anyone have an opinion on this? Experiences?

Also ( off topic) how soon can I vacuum the gravel? I've got some floaties, and I think it needs to be done...those mollies are poop machines!

 

[giggsey]

Personally, I vacuum my gravel pretty much every water change. Cleans up the poop, and it can remove nitrates from the gravel (where they end up being stored - I think)

 

[Gilli]

To fully cycle a tank will take between 6-8 weeks if you have not used any cycled media. You need your readings to be Ammonia 0 nitrite 0 and some sort of nitrate reading - it shouldnt be at 0.

If you have not done a gravel vac yet do a thorough one immediately and then a light vac at least every other day when you water change as you need to hoover up any uneaten food and poo to keep the toxins down while the tank is cycling.Also keep the feeding to a minimum until you are cycled.

 

[waterdrop]

Agree with Gilli, it's your water changes that are helping to make things look good and you shouldn't assume the two bacterial colonies have fully taken over the job yet, especially because they aren't producing any excess of nitrate(NO3) yet. You are probably part way in to a Fish-In Cycle and can read our article on that in the Beginners Resource Center. Just keep testing in the mornings and evenings (ammonia and nitrite and pH) and test nitrate(NO3) every weekend or every few days. Your good habits with gravel-clean-water-changes will keep doing good things!

~~waterdrop~~