Used Mature Filter Media - Am I Done?

[CrazyDiamond88]

Last week, I went to an aquarium store and the guy gave me three things called Bio Balls? I think? They are ceramic. 
 
They were from a running tank in the store. The tank didn't seem to have any fish in it, but maybe it had before.
 
He said that would help me with my cycle.
 
I've had my tank running with plants and no fish for about 2 weeks now.
 
I only tested water for the first time about 5 days ago. I got 0 nitrate, 0 nitrite, 7.4 pH and .25 ammonia.
 
I tested a few days later and got the same, and then today and the same.
 
Could I be done? 
 
I am thinking the .25ppm ammonia could be a false reading, since I am using Prime.
 
Your help is greatly appreciated ^^

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Have you been adding ammonia to feed the filter bacteria this whole time? If not you don't know if you are cycled unless you add 3ppm of ammonia and returns to 0 ammonia and 0 nitrate in less than 24 hours. 
 
My guess is no, you are not cycled, since you say you haven't been testing the water. 

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Oh, I have been adding gold fish flakes. Not ammonia, as I can't get hold of it.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

You should have been testing you water this whole time so you could see the ammonia and nitrite spike. The problem with using fish food is you can't know how much ammonia those flakes have produced so don't know if it's enough to support new fish. I would keep adding food and test daily to see if you get nitrite.
 
If I had to guess I'd say your fish food is producing .25 ammonia which is why you see that result and that you don't have nitrite eating bacteria yet because you should have a very high nitrate reading by now. This means you aren't producing enough ammonia to get a decent amount of bacteria and that you aren't even close to being finished. 

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Okay, thank you.
 
So then I'll put a big dose of flakes in and keep testing on a daily basis?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I wonder if adding something like a prawn would be better, it may produce more ammonia. Are you sure you can't get any ammonia?

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Hm, I'll check again.
 
I could do a prawn if not

 

[CrazyDiamond88]

Woohoo, just bought some!  
 
http/auschems.com/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=87

 

[ech0o]

Yea Crazy, the media given to you at the fish store is probably no good.  In order for bacteria to survive on the media, it needs to be fed, and from what it sounds like, you did not feed them from the start as it takes several days for the fish food to start rotting and creating ammonia.   Once you do get the ammonia, go back and try to get some more active media and you should be able to greatly reduce your cycle time.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

That's great CD! I think you'll feel a lot more confident in your cycle with doing it with ammonia . You'll now know for sure that you can fully stock your aquarium once it's done

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Please make sure you know the concentration of what you purchased. Pure it can be very strong. That said I have been using an ammonium chloride solution for cycling for a couple of years now.
 
Some countries make it very hard or even impossible to find ammonia for fishless cycling. These folks have two alternative, cycle with fish or else add fish food or othet things to create ammonia. Rhose folks should be aware of the following:
 

 
Using shrimp or fish food: One of the more popular fishless cycling methods is to buy a few dead shrimp at the grocery store, cut them up into chunks and add them to the aquarium. The shrimp decay, which produces ammonia to feed the nitrifying bacteria. There are a few drawbacks with this method, one being that the hobbyist really has no way to know how much ammonia is being produced by the decaying shrimp, and the aquarium does not look very good with dead shrimp laying on the bottom. Also, the organic material of the shrimp can cause bacteria blooms which turn the aquarium water cloudy. This method works but it takes time and patience and you will probably see a spike in ammonia and nitrite if you add a medium to heavy load of fish after the initial cycling. Note that some people use flake fish food instead of shrimp but this is not recommended because flake food does not have much organic material compared to shrimp and so does not add a lot of ammonia to the water, but you can use cut fish instead of shrimp.

from http/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-starthttp/www.drtimsaquatics.com/resources/how-to-start

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

I think the stuff you get here is usually like 10% or something?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Ammonium chloride is usually bought as a powder that is 99.9% free of moisture. It is then mixed by weight with ro/di water and then used as a liquid. Here is a recipe for creating NH3 solutions using it to give some idea:

 

7.11 Stock solution: Dissolve 3.819 g of anhydrous ammonium chloride, NH4Cl (CASRN 12125-02-9), dried at 105°C, in reagent water, and dilute to 1 L. 1.0 mL = 1.0 mg NH3-N.

7.12 Standard Solution A: Dilute 10.0 mL of stock solution (Section 7.11) to 1 L with reagent water. 1.0 mL = 0.01 mg NH3-N.
 
7.13 Standard Solution B: Dilute 10.0 mL of  standard solution A (Section 7.12) to 100.0 mL with reagent water. 1.0 mL = 0.001 mg NH -N

from http/www.caslab.com/EPA-Methods/PDF/EPA-Method-3501.pdf    page 350.1-6
 
I don't have a handy link for mixing total ammonia solutions. But I would think some are out there.
 
Dr Tim sells a solution of ammonium chloride intended to make it so that one drop added to a gallon of water will results in
 

Description
This bottle of reagent grade ammonium chloride is for use when fishless cycling. Concentration is 50 mg/L of total ammonia-nitrogen (TAN). Dose 1 drop per gallon of aquarium water.

from http/store.drtimsaquatics.com/Ammonium-Chloride-Solution-for-Fishless-Cycling_p_190.html
 
The bottle label says:

 
Add one drop of solution per gallon of aquarium water to achieve an ammonia-nitrogen (NH3-N) concentration of 2mg/L-N (2 ppm).

 

[the_lock_man]

Just to answer the original question, no you are not cycled, as there is no evidence of nitrate in your tank.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

This is a planted tank which could easily explain no nitrate. The no nitrite was/is a better clue. The problem with cycling as described by the OP is that there is no way to know how much ammonia fish food will create. You are basically taking shots in the dark. At least when one cycles with a few small fish you know that rate of ammonia they create will be somewhat steady. With food you really have no clue. AlmostAwesome nailed the use of flake vs prawn/shrimp issue and the nitrite issue too.
 
The best way to know if one is cycled is the final 3 ppm ammonia dose that gets cleared to 0/0 in a day of less. The best way to know a cycle is progressing is to see ammonia drop and nitrite rise- this tells us that ammonia bacs are working. Then, seeing nitrite drop tells us nitrite bacs are working as well. Given how flakey nitrate kits are and that the effects of any water changes or live plants will mitigate nitrate, testing this is not ideal way to know what is going on. Nitrates kits may act as confirmation, but I would not trust them to give accurate readings to be relied upon for more than indicating nitrate may or may not be present, and even then I am not sure how much I trust them.
 
Almost Awesome did answer the original question, saying the tank was not cycled Most of the info I provided was merely more depth on these issues.