Cycle help

[Sora]

I got a tank off of facebook marketplace that im working on cycling. It came with a filter and water and fish (which I re-homed). I was not sure if said filter was cycled, so I tested the cycle with some bladder snails. turned out it was not cycled, so I left the ammonia from the snails in the tank and lowered the water level. I have not done a cycle in a long time so I just wanted to make sure I was doing it right. Its been about a week since I started. Is there anything else I can be doing but wait? thanks. the picture below is from a couple of days ago, ammonia nitrate, nitrite. (I have some nitrate in my tap water).

[Lennie]

If you trust the filter, you can run it in one of your established tanks and let it grow beneficial bacteria  there

That would be the fastest way of establishing bb colony on your filter.

Then, preferably after a couple weeks, you can introduce the seeded filter back to your main tank and check its performance of clearing the ammonia and nitrite. If seems good, you can start stocking slowly.

Also meanwhile, you can plant your tank and let plants to grow and settle in

[Sora]

@Lennie

I would, but its one of those tank kits that the filter cant be removed. would it help to squeeze out extra seeded filter media in the tank?

Edited May 19, 2023 by Sora

[Lennie]

On 5/19/2023 at 4:33 PM, Sora said:

I would, but its one of those tank kits that the filter cant be removed. would it help to squeeze out extra seeded filter media in the tank?

Squeezing the gunk may fasten the process. Or you can introduce some established media inside the built in filter, if you can.

Some people say it just puts lots of detrius and as a result more ammonia when you squeeze filter media. Some others say it helps with introducing some beneficial bacteria.

As the tank is empty, what would you lose anyway!

Give it a try. I tried it once, but with combination of a few other things. I also under-dosed stability and put a few established matrix pieces around the sponge. It took approximately around 2-2.5 weeks to cycle. I can't exactly say what helped in what degree, as it was a combination of many things