So I’ve been cycling this tank since December 17th (3 weeks today) and I can’t tell if it is cycled enough to add inhabitants? I have been monitoring the levels and done a couple of ghost feeds, I’ve seen the ammonia go up slightly a couple of times to 0.25ppm but the nitrite and nitrates have always been 0. I’m wondering if it is cycled but because of all the plants, the nitrates just get sucked up so quickly? Is this possible, is there a better way to test this theory, I can’t find plain ammonia online to dose it with, if anyone has a UK link I would greatly appreciate it.
I also have a small number of detritus worms, copepods and bladder snails that must have snuck in on the plants but they seem to be doing well… so I’m hoping that’s a good sign. I’ve also had biofilm on the hardscape and on the surface (although the snails are now doing an excellent job of cleaning that up) and the red tiger lotus as well as the floating plants have grown massively… is it time to add shrimp and fish?
Any help would be greatly appreciated 🙂
Posted by BotanicalBettas
1 Comment
This looks like a classic silent cycle, especially with that much healthy plant mass.
In heavily planted tanks, ammonia can get taken up almost immediately by plants and biofilm before it ever shows on a test, which would explain why you’ve seen brief 0.25 ppm spikes but no sustained nitrite or nitrate. The detritus worms, copepods, snails, and biofilm are all good signs that the system is biologically active.
If you can’t find pure ammonia, you have two reasonable options:
• Increase the ghost feeding slightly and see if ammonia can hold for 24 hours.
• Or introduce livestock very slowly — something like 2–3 small fish or a few shrimp — and test daily for the first week to see how the system responds.
If ammonia and nitrite stay at 0 with livestock added, that confirms the tank is processing waste effectively. Just go slow, test often, and avoid adding everything at once.