Activated Carbon and Surfactant

[Hallyx]

Were you able to find any'seeded' media from a cycled/established tank?

[RainbowSocks]

No, I just used some Jungle Start Zyme, even though most people say it doesn't work. I've already got my nitrite spike, and a wee bit of nitrates. So far no bubbles.
:) Temp is up to 80. I feel so chemist-y. :P

[Hallyx]

That's incredible, RS. How can I say this without giving you the wrong impression? Two days does not seem like enough time for the cycle to have progressed to the nitrite stage.

Would you be willing to keep records of your readings for the next couple of weeks, or until the cycle is fully established? This would be a great favor to me and to everyone on this forum who is interested in the nitrogen cycle.

[RainbowSocks]

No, I agree! I was really surprised to see nitrates that quickly. I had had the tank up with plants for about a week before I started cycling, and three weeks after that before I got my fish (the tank was able to cycle out about 2ppm of ammonia all the way to nitrates in 24 hours... I dilly-dallied for a week, then brought home a betta with damaged fins from Walmart).

My record is a little sketchy because 9 days of the cycle I was out of town, and had left my roomie with instructions to add ammonia each day. I expected the tank to have crashed while I was away simply because I had no idea what I was doing. lol

I've been checking the water parameters every 1-2 days with my fish in there because I'm afraid it hasn't cycled all the way. 7 days later, ammonia and nitrite are still at zero, nitrate is less than 5ppm.

[RainbowSocks]

I'm feeling ambitious... picture form: