So as most of you know I have just put up a 55 gallon tank, and so far have moved two of my fish into it from their old 20 gallon home.

The 55 has two Emperor 280's on it that were new, and one Whisper 20i that was fully established in the old tank. I also had the Bio-wheels from the Emperor's floating in the 20 gallon for three weeks, plus lots of ceramic cylinders stuffed into the 20 gallon tank's filters which were also moved to the new tank.

So I am wondering when I should start seeing any readings for stuff. So far everything is at 0. The fish have been in the new tank for about 3 days. Should I be seeing ammonia yet? I checked last night, but will test everything again tonight and let you all know.

Just wondering how it goes when you already have some established media involved.

Thanks!

You may not see ammonia.... you may see only a tiny bit. You have a bio-filter that was capable of taking care of the fish in a smaller tank, and you have on ly 2 fish for it to take care of right now. The beneficial bacteria colony may be large enough to do the job - and may be able to grow very easily and well to take care of any increase in ammonia as other fish are added, slowly, too. The second type of bacteria, the ones that do the nitrItes to nitrAte tend to be a bit more finicky. You may notice a bump in nitrItes in a day or two - but at 3 days, I would think you would be seeing a trace of nitrIte by now. REmember, two fish in a 55 will dilute out the nitrIte readings to very little. It will take a whole lot more nitrITe in the water to raise the ppm to a readable level (aren't big tanks GREAT!? )

Keep testing. You know you are home free when the nitrAtes appear. You may never see anything but a trace of nitrite. You may never see any traces. Or, you may see small amounts of ammonia/nitrite that come. I hoep it is the former!

Thank you Daryl!

I just tested and got 0 ammonia, almost .50 nitrites (it wasn't quite that purple) and 0 nitrates. So should I do a water change? I normally wouild try and keep the nitrites at .25 or lower during cycling. I don't want to mess anything up by changing too much water!

Let me know what you think...

Change 'er out! Do not let that nitrIte climb. Your beneficial bacteria is NOT in the water. It is in the filter. You can change as much water as you want - your fish will always add more!

Sounds like you will have this up and running shortly - but be patient. I started a 30 gallon tank with a cycled filter from a smaller tank, and it bumped on the nitrites for almost 13 days!

Thanks Daryl, I changed 50% last night and will check again shortly and probably change some more. I should follow my own advice sometimes, lol, I am always telling people to change lots of water! I am SO glad I invested in a Python, makes life much easier.

You are so helpful when it comes to stuff like this, I really appreciate it!

New readings for today...yay!

Ammonia 0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5

5 days and appears to have cycled! If it stays this way for a week the other fish can move in!

Daryl, thank you so much for all your help, you rock!

YEA!!!!!