Cycled....already?

[izzie]

Alright so i bought some live rock on friday from my lfs. It had been in a cycled tank already for about a month and a bit. I got about 10 pounds of that and then about 20 pounds of LS in my 10 gallon tank with a 10g sump. I ran my LS for a day befor i added my LR and being stupid i didnt test my water for those 2 days thinking it would take a bit longer for an ammonia spike. nothing. ive tested my water for everyday since and my ammonia is between 0-0.25, my nitrite is 0 and my nitrate is 20 now its slowly raising, it was at 10 on monday and 15 yesterday. My ph is at 8.4 and my alkalinity is around 250 i think not sure if my test is reading right. Is it possible that my cycle is almost done or what is going on. Why did i not get a nitrite spike. Thanks.
Izzie

 

[steelhealr]

Hi..it's quite possible that it is cycled. Nitrite may have just been converted into nitrate faster than it was created. Whatever you do, don't add anything until your ammonia is consistently 0. SH

 

[RoyalGrammaPrincessHannah]

Hmm, well am i mistaken or is it wierd that the process is already at the nitrate part and u still have ammonia? Idk what test kit u use but on mine, [aquarium pharmeceuticals] the ammonia test is hard to read unless im in the right light because the difference between the yellowish brown for 0 and the yellowish green for .25 is hard to determine, so my dad and i were fighting about it for a long time until i finally realized that he was right. So make sure youre reading that correctly, maybe get a 2nd opinion. But as for your question, it is likely that it is already cycled, depending on the amount of cycling ur LR and LS still had or didnt have to do. You never really know unless youve been tracking it since it was chopped out of the ocean and even then... well nevermind im just rambling.