did i cycle my tank properly?

[fishiee]

I got my tank on Saturday and I set it up and everything. I added Prime water conditioner and I put fish flakes in it so it could start cycling. I tested it today (Monday, 2 days later) because my kit came in and the ammonia is 0.25ppm and nitrite is 0ppm, is that normal?

I also think I started cycling it wrong because one video said I should pretend I have fish in my tank and "feed" it 2-3 times a day, so that's what I did for two days. Then, I came across an article that said I should only put food in it when the ammonia is at 3 or 5ppm. Am I cycling my tank correctly?

Here are my results when I tested the water ( left is tap water from my sink, right is tank water ):

 

[Essjay]

The easiest way to do a fishless cycle is by using ammonia solution. With that, you know exactly how much ammonia is going into the tank. If you can get hold of some ammonia, follow the method on here https://www.fishforums.net/threads/cycling-your-new-fresh-water-tank-read-this-first.421488/ A lot of methods tell you to add too much ammonia, which makes so much nitrite the cycle stalls. With this method, you can never add too much ammonia.
It takes some time for fish food to break down to make ammonia, and it is not as controllable as using ammonia solution.

The other way is a silent cycle, using lots of live plants. If you intend having live plants in the tank, plant them now. Wait till they are growing well, then get fish a few at a time, and test for ammonia and nitrite every day to make sure the plants are taking up all the ammonia made by the fish. This method needs more than just a couple of slow growing plants, and floating plants are ideal for doing a silent cycle.

 

[Retired Viking]

I do silent cycles on all my tanks, good fast growing plants like anacharis,hornwort, moneywort, water sprite are best. You can plant them or just let them float and they will absorb the ammonia. They are very easy to care for because the fish produce the waste (ammonia) to feed them and they improve the water quality and produce oxygen and also absorb co2 produced by the fish. It is a circle of life kind of thing. Also floating plants like frogbite works well too. Just make sure to add a few fish at a time so the plants can keep up with the fish. I have mostly small tetras and add 6 of them at a time and then test the water for a week before adding more.

 

[fishiee]

So I just completely abandon the fish food cycle? If so, how many live plants do you suggest I get? I already have four (2 amazon swords, 1 anubias, and 1 java fern).

 

[Retired Viking]

It depends on how big your tank is and how many fish do you plan of having and their size.

 

[fishiee]

It depends on how big your tank is and how many fish do you plan of having and their size.

I have a 10G and I'm planning on getting 8 (most of them are small, the biggest is a dwarf gourami) fish and a snail.

 

[Retired Viking]

I would look at getting some of the fast growing floating plants I mentioned, 10 gallon may be small for 8 fish unless you are looking at micro fish like ember tetra. Java fern and anubias are slow growing so it absorbs ammonia at a slow rate. Amazon swords is moderate so they will not be able to help much more.