Is My Tank Cycled?

[woody111]

I have been cycling my tank for 5 weeks now with fish in. (didnt read aout fishless cycle till to late). I have been doing water changes and teset ever 2-3 days and have watched my ammonia rise and fall and my nitratite rise to over 2 mg/l. On my last test my ammonnia and nitrite are 0 but my nitrate has only risen to 5 mg/l.
Is it normal for my nitrite to drop so quickly especially as my nitrate is still so low.
And is my tank cycled as i was expecting it to take longer than 5 weeks.

Hope it is so i can buy some more fish.
Thanks for the advice.

 

[rdd1952]

When you have gone a full week with normal feediings and your ammonia and nitrite have remained at 0 then you ae cycled for the fish you have in the tank only. Adding more will start a possible mini cycle. When you add more fish, don't add more than you already have. The bacteria can double it's quanitiies in about 24 hours so doubling your stock should only lead to a small mini cycle if you even see one at all.

As for the nitrate level, how many and what type fish do you have in the tank? If you only have 4 or 5 smallish fish, thn you won't see a large build up of nitrate over a few days.

 

[woody111]

i have 4 platys and 6 xray tetra.
my nitrite droped from 3 mg/l to 0 in 3-4 days

 

[littlest]

Since you have been doing such frequent water changes that may also be why the nitrate is low.
For now I would continue testing daily for a while, and do a water change if ammonia or nitrite reach 0.25ppm. If they stay at zero then just do a normal weekly water change.

What size is your tank?

 

[woody111]

90 ltres