Tank cycled in 6 days?

[Kyledavison]

Creating an African chiclid community with my new 75 gallon tank. 6 days ago I added feeder fish plus tetra safe start to kick the cycle into hi gear. My ammoni barely ever got ove .25ppm and now on day 6 my readings are 0 ammonia 0 nitrite and 5 ppm nitrate. Is my tank really already cycled? Should I start adding my chiclids now or wait another week or so. Thanks

 

[Essjay]

How many fish did you add? If it's something like half a dozen small fish in 75 gallons, it will be cycled for half a dozen small fish so when you add the cichlids you will likely have ammonia then nitrite. But if it's a lot of feeder fish, roughly the same body mass as the cichlids you intend to add, the tank should be cycled for the cichlids.

I have never kept African cichlids - are they supposed to be added all at once so that some fish can't set up territories then become aggressive towards later additions?
If they can be added a few at a time, then yes you can start adding them, but if the need to be added all at the same time you could well find yourself doing a fish-n cycle.

 

[Naughts]

This does seem very quick. Did you reuse a substrate or filter that could hold beneficial bacteria?

 

[Rocky998]

You used safe start which is really good for cycling but here is the issue that @Essjay brought up... You used small "feeder fish" to cycle the tank that dont produce enough ammonia to cycle a 75g. Especially for large cichlids. This is where we normally use pure ammonia to cycle a tank because we can measure how much ammonia goes in and determine how much ammonia and nitrites are being "eaten" up...

Also this part is just opinion but I would never want to use "feeder fish" to cycle a tank... If their used for feeding, I guess its alright because most of the time its a quick and painless (hopefully) death... But in a cycling tank its most likely slow and painful due to ammonia and nitrite rising and falling.

 

[Kyledavison]

How many fish did you add? If it's something like half a dozen small fish in 75 gallons, it will be cycled for half a dozen small fish so when you add the cichlids you will likely have ammonia then nitrite. But if it's a lot of feeder fish, roughly the same body mass as the cichlids you intend to add, the tank should be cycled for the cichlids.

I have never kept African cichlids - are they supposed to be added all at once so that some fish can't set up territories then become aggressive towards later additions?
If they can be added a few at a time, then yes you can start adding them, but if the need to be added all at the same time you could well find yourself doing a fish-n cycle.

Thanks for the reply I put 20 small feeder fish in it. And yes if u don’t put all the chiclids in at the same time they say to add Atleast 4 each week around the same size until u have desired amount. I still feel as if I should wait another week or so because I just don’t beilievw my tank is cycled after only 6 days

 

[Kyledavison]

This does seem very quick. Did you reuse a substrate or filter that could hold beneficial bacteria?

No. But I do have a 36 gallon bow front that I’ve had for 6 years now with a fluval 206 filter in it. But I didn’t add any bio media to the new filter. Just because I’m in absolutely no rush. I’m thinking about taking the feeder fish out and adding straight ammojia to the tank to see how quick it turned to nitrate .

 

[Kyledavison]

You used safe start which is really good for cycling but here is the issue that @Essjay brought up... You used small "feeder fish" to cycle the tank that dont produce enough ammonia to cycle a 75g. Especially for large cichlids. This is where we normally use pure ammonia to cycle a tank because we can measure how much ammonia goes in and determine how much ammonia and nitrites are being "eaten" up...

Also this part is just opinion but I would never want to use "feeder fish" to cycle a tank... If their used for feeding, I guess its alright because most of the time its a quick and painless (hopefully) death... But in a cycling tank its most likely slow and painful due to ammonia and nitrite rising and falling.

Ya I’m thinking about taking them out and adding straight ammonia just to see how much beneficial bacteria I actually have in the tank.

 

[Rocky998]

Ya I’m thinking about taking them out and adding straight ammonia just to see how much beneficial bacteria I actually have in the tank.

Yes that is probably the best decision... What will you do with the feeder fish though?

 

[Kyledavison]

Yes that is probably the best decision... What will you do with the feeder fish though?

Back to pet store

 

[Kyledavison]

Thoughts on how much ammonia to put in the tank? Around 1ppm?

 

[Naughts]

Thoughts on how much ammonia to put in the tank? Around 1ppm?

Follow the method here:

Cycling Your New Fresh Water Tank: Read This First!

Cycling Your First Fresh Water Tank What is Cycling and Why is it Important? Fish waste, and especially fish breathing, plus uneaten food and other organic matter breaking down in a tank all produce Ammonia. This can quickly become toxic to fish if it is allowed to build up to any measurable...

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