Making progress...on my 2 week old cycling tank

[oonycxwilloo]

so you are saying that if my ammonia goes down to 0 the tank is cycled? Did i really speed up the process that much? because as of today it is exactly 2 weeks and 3 days...shouldn't it take like 4-6 weeks to cycle? but there is one thing i did leave out...my girlfrend has a established tank...she gave me about 2 1/2 gallons of water so i poured some in my tank

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Ok the cycle explained

1 Amonia spike then 0
2 Nitrite spike then 0
3 Nitrate Spike then 0

You are cycled then.
You should have no livestock in the tank at all until it is done with it's cycle. No water Changes just let it be. Read all of the posts in the beginner forum.

 

[marrone]

The cycle can vary depended on what type of live rock, live sand and other things you use. The cycle could be a couple of days to a month as every tank varies.

Since the Live rock that you placed in the tank was mostly cured that help speed the cycle along as there was very little die off. The really problem is it hard to tell what was happening to you tank cycle wise because of all the things that you did. But right now follow the ammonia and you should see it hit zero soon. When it does and you don't see and increase in nitries, they should be zero, then your cycled and you can start to add more to the tank but do it slowly as you don't want any ammonia spikes.

 

[scarf_ace1981]

yeah just be patient. don't add anything more for a while.