Using seeded media

[Coolysd]

Hey y'all!
I'm on day 4 of cycling (fish-in) my 75gal, again, long story short there was a flood in my apartment and they replaced the carpeting through out. My 3 Dojos that I have left, (my other two ), have been in a 10gal for about a month or so. Doing fish-in cycle cuz I had to get them out of the 10gal, they were not doing well. They are so much happier to be back in their home and with SAND instead of gravel!! I have two Aquaclear 110's running with the media they come with plus I added the media from the 10gal (an Aquaclear 50 media and a sponge filter) along with a couple of decorations. Using Stability and Prime daily.
I am by no means expecting an instant cycle. My question is how long do you think it will be before I start getting a nitrite/nitrate reading? The ammonia is at .5 nitrite/nitrates are 0 which is the same as day 1.
Thanks y'all!

PS: I have another question about driftwood but I'll post that in a different forum.

 

[That other guy]

Hey y'all!
I'm on day 4 of cycling (fish-in) my 75gal, again, long story short there was a flood in my apartment and they replaced the carpeting through out. My 3 Dojos that I have left, (my other two ), have been in a 10gal for about a month or so. Doing fish-in cycle cuz I had to get them out of the 10gal, they were not doing well. They are so much happier to be back in their home and with SAND instead of gravel!! I have two Aquaclear 110's running with the media they come with plus I added the media from the 10gal (an Aquaclear 50 media and a sponge filter) along with a couple of decorations. Using Stability and Prime daily.
I am by no means expecting an instant cycle. My question is how long do you think it will be before I start getting a nitrite/nitrate reading? The ammonia is at .5 nitrite/nitrates are 0 which is the same as day 1.
Thanks y'all!

PS: I have another question about driftwood but I'll post that in a different forum.

As you probably already know Amonia shows its head first followed by nitrites and nitrates so its normal to have a zero with N readings so soon. Lots of factors to consider as in the amount of seeded media you have used vs the volume of the tanks water and the media itself has to be well established before considering using it as a "seeding" option. I personally find if done right the Aquariums cycling process can be cut in half from a standard 4 week fishless cycle to a 2 week monitored cycle. Than again i recently seeded a tank with its enitre cannister media and tanks water coming from another sump and parameters have settled nicely now just before my 2 week milestone. And thats fully planting/stocking and feeding in the aquarium also.
Its really simple once you get the hang of it but on the other hand if you are not use to seeding its not to straight forward. Small things like feeding and WC can really mess things up. Im also a firm believer that if you get spikes or water quality issues in the initial setup it can really hold you back and almost ruin the experience of a new setup as it goes from trying to get it setup fast to trying to recover it for weeks. Id advise only doing it if you feel cofortable doing it. So simple once you get the hang of it but daily checks and monitoring highly advised . Hope things go well for you. If there is any tip i could give it would be to just not feed the tank for a few days. Your fish will be more than fine for a few days and your setup will appreciate less stress.

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello Cool. I cycled my last tank with some Guppies and Buenos Aires Tetras. I just removed and replaced half the tank water every few days and always dosed a bacteria starter when I performed the water change. That was several months ago and I still have all fish. Maybe even a few more Guppies. But, I don't feed much and never miss a water change. Larger tanks are by far the best for the fish. Good idea to have 75 gallons of water.

10 Tanks (Now 11)