When Is Cycle Complete?

[Bigd5482]

Well topic says all tank has finally dropped to 0 parameters as follows :

Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 7.4

The parameters were the same throught 3 different testings yesterday and this morning. So now is it a week without water changes and parameters staying at 0 for it to be complete? Also I'm planning on adding a piece of dritwood I've been waterlogging which can finally sink now on its own. Will adding this change the nitrite or ammonia levels or is it add it and find out sort of thing?

Meant to add in how many times a day should I check the water levels now once, twice or the normal 3 that I've been doing during the cycle?

 

[SchottayB]

Well topic says all tank has finally dropped to 0 parameters as follows :

Amm 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 10
PH 7.4

The parameters were the same throught 3 different testings yesterday and this morning. So now is it a week without water changes and parameters staying at 0 for it to be complete? Also I'm planning on adding a piece of dritwood I've been waterlogging which can finally sink now on its own. Will adding this change the nitrite or ammonia levels or is it add it and find out sort of thing?

Meant to add in how many times a day should I check the water levels now once, twice or the normal 3 that I've been doing during the cycle?

Sorry i'm not sure if youre cycle is finished yet, but i've got one question for you... how long did it take for your tests to show 0 on ammonia, nitrat and nitrite and it a fishless cycle i guess?

Hope you don't mind me askin on your post

Thanks!

 

[gaz gun man]

when you can process 5ppm ammonia in 12 hours your cycle is complete, its then generally reccomended to contine feeding the filter with ammonia for another week to strengthen the bacterial colony, do a big waterchange, then you're set to add fish

 

[Bigd5482]

No it was a fish in cycle sorry should of put that in there. There is another thread of mine that explains why I ended up having to do a fish in cycle but anyway. It took just over a month with a fish in cycle for the numbers to show up 0 that was doing 3 water changes a day on a couple days doing 4. Bottom line if I do another tank regardless I'm doing fishless cycle. Surprising through the whole cycle only lost 1 guppy but had to give some fish up as to not lose them (2 GBR that came with the tank). Well i currently still have in it (29 gal tank by the way)

4 tiger barb (young still so not as aggressive as I'm sure they will be if I wasn't rehoming them)
5 guppies

With that being said is it safe to say I can rehome the barbs now since the numbers dropped to 0 or is it better to keep them in the tank for another week to keep crappin so the bacteria level doesn't drop off if this would even happen? I'm planning on adding more fish once the cycle is done for sure. Also what about the driftwood does this affect the levels any?

 

[Honeythorn]

If you're going to swap the barbs for more suitable fish at an LFS or re-homing them, then wait until the day you get your new fish if you can. That way you can keep the filter well cycled and will not get any die off by removing the biggest waste producers of your group.

 

[Bigd5482]

If you're going to swap the barbs for more suitable fish at an LFS or re-homing them, then wait until the day you get your new fish if you can. That way you can keep the filter well cycled and will not get any die off by removing the biggest waste producers of your group.

Yeah that's what I was thinking of doing. They're going to be going to my dad's friend he has a species tank for barbs so they'll be happy. I'm planning on going with 5 or 6 of some sort of tetra or cherry barb a BN cat and either male and femal GBR, Krib or keyhole to finish the tank off with. Had ideas of going with 3 honey gouramis or dwarfs but decided against dwarfs because of diseases and kinda leaning against honey's as I believe that will overstock the tank too much. However I wouldn't add the honey's in untill probably a month or 2 after the tank has been cycled. But without the honey's I have the option to keep a couple of the guppies then to see what colors I can get out of them since I have someone who will take the ones I don't want to rehome them (dad's friend again who has deals set up with LFS's for guppies) which is nice not having to worry about where to put or what to do with the guppies since they breed like rabbits.