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Can the tank already be cycled? How can I tell?
My friend had an uncycled tank and put fish in it. I put a question up a few days ago about how to prevent the death of her fish while it cycled. She got some bacteria in a bottle (though we were warned it might be dead already) and did change the water pretty often. But the tank is less than two weeks old. Well for the last two days there have been no ammonia readings, nitrate, or nitrite. Does this mean it's fully cycled? Is it really possible to cut it down from a month to less than two weeks?
It's a freshwater tank.
We did use something like cycle, but not that exactly.
There was really high amonia levels until one day they went down and one of the nitrate or nitrite levels went sky high. Lost a frog durning that. The ph went way up, then way down. Now everything seems to be leveling out.
Did a ten percent water change two days ago, but that's all.
We also have real lilly pads growing in there which I'm told can lower the nitrite levels. Perhaps that's why it's zero.
There's two snails, the frog is gone, a bunch of zebra fish, a few glo fish. It's a ten gallon tank.
2 Answers
- 1 decade agoFavorite Answer
First of all it depends on the size of tank, amount of fish, and whether it is salt or fresh. With freshwater species, they are usually very hardy and can handle a lot that you throw at them, but they do have their limits. If it is fresh i would not be worried. However if it is a saltwater tank you will need a lot more than a month to cycle it properly.
Source(s): Reef Aquarist - malialeilaniLv 41 decade ago
i've cycled my tanks in two weeks by adding an active bacterial culture called "cycle" and using substrate from an established tank. however i never do water changes while my tank is cycling... i just let it be once my ammonia levels rise. if your tank is properly cycled it should have some nitrate readings. i'd be a little skeptical that it cycled properly if you have zero readings across the board. have you ever had any ammonia or nitrite readings? if the answer is no, then the water changes were probably too much and the bacteria culture has not established itself in the tank yet. read the link about cycling tanks with and without fish:
