How long does it take to cycle a tank?

[Jayden Gomez]

I am dosing 2ppm ammonia every two weeks, currently I have 0-0.5ppm ammonia, 1ppm nitrite, 0ppm nitrate in my 10gal. I have had the tank setup for about a month now, dosing beneficial bacteria. No fish, no snails, there are a couple of worm species and copepods which I hate but I have left them alone as I heard they aren't harmful. I am doing weekly water changes. Note that I do get a nitrate spike whenever I dose ammonia, I just have a hard time actually keeping nitrates up as I ordered too many plants I think 😅 Anyways, I plan on waiting at least another month or two before adding shrimp, but when is it safe to say my tank is cycled? I use re-mineralized RO/DI water, and so far I haven't had much of a issue at all with algae.

Another question unrelated to that, I didn't expect to use hydrocotyle tripartita japan as a carpet, but I can do that right? So far it's a bit taller and not as compact as I want, probably 1.5in-2in. tall, but consistent weekly trimming and replanting should eventually get me a more dense carpet, correct? I've never done any carpets, and I love the way this plant looks. Note I am not using CO2.

[Jovius]

For the first part of your question, it really depends. I know that sucks as an answer but it is really how it is. A good way to tell if it is cycled is if when you add 4ppm of ammonia and there are no ammonia or nitrites 24 hours later and a rise in nitrates you know it is cycled. If you have a ton of plants like me you wont really see the rise in nitrates but you can infer that if your tank when from ammonia 4ppm to 0ppm and you have 0ppm nitrites that the ammonia and nitrates went somewhere(into your plants as nitrates). However, plants will suck up ammonia and nitrite a little too so that's not even a sure fire way to tell. What beneficial bacteria are you dosing? I like the Fritz brand stuff as it usually cycles my tanks in a couple of weeks where some of the other ones take 4-6 weeks.

For the second part of your question, I have seen Hydrocotyle Tripartita used as a carpeting plant. It's not as thick as what most people look for in a carpet but it can cover an area of your tank if you want it to.

[Tony s]

On 7/24/2024 at 9:01 PM, Jayden Gomez said:

I just have a hard time actually keeping nitrates up as I ordered too many plants I think 😅

No such thing. They’ll help keep your algae down if you keep them healthy. Looks like you’re just waiting for your nitrite bacteria to kick into high gear. Then you’ll be good.

[Jayden Gomez]

@Tony s yeah but what I mean is that I literally have to float some of my stem plants lmao so I'm currently doing darkstart on a old 5gal for plant trimming and excess plants only. And yeah, nitrites are higher than I would like.

@Jovius Personally I do not feel comfortable doing 4ppm ammonia in one dosing, although I will raise it to 3ppm and then perhaps 4, not sure on that though. And yeah,  fritz zyme 7. Thanks for answering the second question too.

[Pepere]

Nitrifying bacteria will grow better with plenty of oxygen, carbonates and somewhat warmer temps…

so, an extra airstone, KH of at least 6 degrees, and temp of 78…

when I was starting tanks I tried multiple doses of multiple brands of bacteria in a bottle and I was unimpressed with all of them.

 

If you keep houseplants and dont allow the soil to completely dry out between watering, the soil would be a rich source of nitrifying bacteria.  
 

Right now, I would suspect you have both types of nitrifying bacteria, but an immature small colony.  It will take time for it to grow sufficient to metabolize 2 ppm ammonia challenge dose in 24 hours to 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites.

If I could put time and patience in a bottle, I could be a millionaire… even though that isnt nearly what it was when I was growing up in the 70s and you could get a whole meal at McDonalds and get change back on a dollar….

Edited July 25 by Pepere

[Whitecloud09]

It depends on so many different things, but the main thing is, your tank. Everybody's tank is different in some way. One might take 3 months and one might take 2 weeks! That is a bad answer seems like as @Jovius has mentioned. But cycling is such an unpredictable process sometimes. I used dr tims one and only, and i was unimpressed after using on two different tanks. Fritz7 is good i hear but i have never tried it before. 

On 7/24/2024 at 9:01 PM, Jayden Gomez said:

 I plan on waiting at least another month or two before adding shrimp, but when is it safe to say my tank is cycled? 

Usually, people say when ammonia and nitrite go to 0 within 24hrs AFTER adding ammonia. Even though that can be true, as long your tank can handle ammonia and nitrite and get it to 0 in a day or two, and that you start with light feeding with whatever fish you pick, you could say that your cycled then. But again, it depends.

[Tony s]

On 7/24/2024 at 11:51 PM, Jayden Gomez said:

Personally I do not feel comfortable doing 4ppm ammonia in one dosing

There is a point where too much ammonia becomes toxic to your cycle. All you really want is to have the ammonia present, so the bacteria can survive and multiply. 2ppm is sufficient 

[Jayden Gomez]

@Pepere I am using an airstone/sponge filter, never ran one without one besides one time when I had HOB, and hated it (most likely because it was a crappy one), I have a KH of 80ppm / 4.5 dKH. I can raise my KH if i need to. 75 F, as I heard things decompose slower and plants like lower temps, which I think both are true, not 100% sure on the second one. Should I raise temps? But I doubt 3 degrees will make much of a difference, right? The surface agitation is however limited to 50-55% of the surface as I do have stem plants floating, water sprite, and floaters however they seem to stay on the opposite side of the airstone pretty well, at least to say, I know I'm getting enough oxygen.

Also that houseplant plant soil tip is a great tip I've never heard before, unfortunately I do not keep anymore houseplants 🙁