A Two Week Cycle?

[mikebig]

Hey, new guy here just bought my first tank two weeks ago. Going with a fishless cycle and have got a few natural plants in from my LFS. Did my third test today, (the tanks 13 day running) and there was no Nitrite to be seen, tho it was well above 4mg/L only 5 days ago. The Nitrate reading is now well up and just below 100mg/L. Can this be right? Should this not take much longer than this to reach these levels? Or could it already be safe to get some fish in? Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[DazedNCoNfUsEd]

One thing you can do is add a little ammonia, until the level is about 4-5ppm, then wait 12 hours and test it again, if the ammonia has been processed then the tank should be safe for fish. Correct me if I'm wrong experts...

 

[bogwood]

What's your ammonia reading?...

 

[dwarfgourami]

Fishless cycle in two weeks sounds perfectly credible to me. I did one in two weeks, and one in 10 days! That is one of the great advantages of cycling fishless; it's a lot quicker. Looks to me like it's time for fish! Just don't forget to do the big water change first, to lower those nitrates.