Hey Guys,
Haven't been on here for a while. Hope you're all well!!
Basically I'm closing down some of my smaller tanks and have started cycling up a new one about 800 litres with a 180 litre or so sump.
It's a fish in cycle (very light bioload) that has been going for a couple of weeks now. I've been doing 10 - 15% water changes daily and have seen ammonia levels around 0.25 - 0.40 ppm prior to said changes.
I squeezed plenty of the sponges from the filters in my old tanks into the new sump in the first week.
The past couple of days I've had readings of 0.00 ppm ammonia. I am yet to register any Nitrite at all. (0.00 ppm every time.)
I tested for Nitrate and that seems to be indicating about 7.0 ppm. These readings (Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrate) are identical to the ones I took from my established tanks as a guide.
Out of interest, I tested my tap water for Nitrate and it seems to be about 10.0 ppm!?? Higher than my tanks?
My understanding of the Nitrogen cycle was that the bacteria that turn ammonia to nitrite develop first and then the nitrite to nitrate follow and the test readings reflect this.
Is my tank cycled?
Pat
Edited by Pat, 19 January 2015 - 01:06 AM.