Fishless Cycle Ready?

[Dunkal]

Hi, I have had my tank set up for about 5 weeks now and for the first time I am getting readings of zero for ammonia and nitrites(2 days in a row). I am adding 3 ml of ammonia every night and 24 hrs later nitrite and ammonia has gone down to zero. Am I ready for fish yet??
I am hoping to get 6 x ray tetras or cherry barbs at the weekend.
thanks

 

[Hero]

Are you getting an nitrate readings?

 

[Dunkal]

I dont seem to have any nitrate readings but I have a juwel tank with nitrate removing filter pad in the filter.

 

[Hero]

Oh that's cool, never heard of one of those. I'm new at this too...

How much ammonia reads after adding 3ml of ammonia? If the bacteria you have can eat up 4ppm of ammonia within 12 hours and you get triple 0's on the water stats, I would say your tank is cycled. Anyone else agree?

 

[Dunkal]

I think the ammonia/nitrite goes down to zero in about 20 hrs

 

[doresy]

Hi, your set up is certainly processing but it's hard to establish as to what level with the information supplied.

If I were to put 3 ml in MY 34 ltr tank and it was gone in 12 hours with no nitrite then I would consider it cycled after 5 weeks. HOWEVER, if I put 3 ml in my 155lt it would hardly show up anyway!

Do you see where I am going with this? We need to either know the tank capacity or the ammonia reading 5 minutes after adding your 3 ml.

Ideally you need to add enough ammonia to raise your level to 4 parts per million (ppm). This sould then drop to zero after 12 hours and nitrite level at this time should also be zero. We would also expect a high nitrate level after 5 weeks of processing.

When you have a zero reading for ammonia, pop in your 3ml of ammonia and do a test 5 minutes after and post the reading along with your water capacity

 

[Jonno]

i added my fish (although not fully stocked - 8 to be exact) once my ammonia was processing in 22 hours. Worked fine for me

 

[Dunkal]

I have a 70 litre tank and intend to get 6 tetras