Question on cycling and ammonia.

So I purchased my 55 gallon tank on the 20th and had it set up that night. And was running empty for 3 days since I had all of the old gravels and decos in it. Since I wanted any ick that may have been in the tank prior to die off. The setup came with the chlorine removal tabs which I put in that night. I then put 8 medium to large zebra danios in it. My question is that I have not had a spike in ammonia. I know I have a pretty low bio load but I also don't want to stress the fish at all. I also have an Anubias in the tank along with a "fern". So do I need to add a larger bio load to my tank to push it or what?

My pH is around 6.8 my KH lies somewhere between the 80-120 ppm I get a color somewhere between 0 and .25 for ammonia. Nothing really showing on my nitrite and low reading on my nitrates. I am doing 10% water changes every 2 days right now. All of my testing strips and fluid are good through late next year or 5 years from now.

The fish are pretty happy right now. They are voracious eaters and are constantly chasing each other around the tank. They come to the top corner whenever I shake the food container.

Was the filter new? Or new media used?

It was new filter. Same bio wheels. Marineland 350.

so then, IMO - its the small bio load and the frequent water changes that are probably keeping the amonia / nitrites in check. Reusing the gravel prolly helped a great deal too. The bb in the wheels and gravel will help establish new bb colonies in the filters. The tank will probably continue to test good . but I would continue to monitore... I would also wait before increasing the load if you can help it. (bb - beneficial bacteria)

I think that you may be worrying to much. I keep large cichlids and I never cycle a tank. I just take bio media from an existing tank and float it in the new one.

When you purchased the tank was it up and running? If so, then you have no worries because the sand if its the same, has enough BB in it to cycle the tank.

My only concern is you said you waited 3 days because you wanted any remnants of ich to die off. Why the concern? Was there a possibility of ich being present? You do realize that if there was ich in the tank the ich cycle is about 45 days, so waiting 3 days was irrelevant.

Yeah, with such frequent water changes and low bio load you might be stalling your cycle. You could add more fish OR stop the w/c's, but I wouldn't do both at the same time as you also don't want to shock your cycle and cause unnecessary spikes.

madness wrote:I just take bio media from an existing tank and float it in the new one.

Thats one way or you could pee in it. [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

I agree with cenceoflife. Since you are registering a little ammonia means this tank is going through a mini cycle. Continue monitoring until all levels return to 0. I wouldn't change a thing in your process . Keeping levels low with small frequent water changes will keep fish healthy until the cycling process is complete.