Hi guys, I'm surprised and excited because it took only 8 days for my new tank to cycle. The cycle was completed last Friday, but I'm still watching the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels to make sure everything is fine.
I don't really know the reason of this extremely fast cycle being that I only used pure ammonia, no seeding.
I use CaribSea African Cichlid sand as the substrate which says it contains beneficial bacteria, but being that I had the sand for so long in the tank and I took me about a month or more to start the cycle the bacteria that the sand had (if any) probably died before I started the cycle, because there was no ammonia source, therefore, the bacteria had no food. Another reason could be that my tap water has some ammonia, from chloramines, I actually tested my tap water and it reads 0.25 PPM ammonia, and being that I had everything running for a while before starting the cycle with ammonia, and I poured dechlorinator about 2 weeks after filling up the tank, maybe the cycle started by itself without me knowing it, with ammonia from my tap water.
To cycle, I used the ammonia from ACE Hardware (10% Janitorial Strength). Some things that maybe helped speed up the cycle are that I cranked my heater to 87 F and placed a small airstone in the sump.
I have a 120 Gal with 2 internal overflows (corner) and a wet/dry sump.
I don't really know the reason of this extremely fast cycle being that I only used pure ammonia, no seeding.
I use CaribSea African Cichlid sand as the substrate which says it contains beneficial bacteria, but being that I had the sand for so long in the tank and I took me about a month or more to start the cycle the bacteria that the sand had (if any) probably died before I started the cycle, because there was no ammonia source, therefore, the bacteria had no food. Another reason could be that my tap water has some ammonia, from chloramines, I actually tested my tap water and it reads 0.25 PPM ammonia, and being that I had everything running for a while before starting the cycle with ammonia, and I poured dechlorinator about 2 weeks after filling up the tank, maybe the cycle started by itself without me knowing it, with ammonia from my tap water.
To cycle, I used the ammonia from ACE Hardware (10% Janitorial Strength). Some things that maybe helped speed up the cycle are that I cranked my heater to 87 F and placed a small airstone in the sump.
I have a 120 Gal with 2 internal overflows (corner) and a wet/dry sump.