Is my tank cycled already?

[chrissyoscar]

I set up my breeding tank about 5 days ago.
To speed up the cycling process I go my cannister filter from the display tank which needed a clean anyway and took out about 1/3 of the filter wool and about 1/3 of the ceramic noodles. I gave them a quick rinse and placed them in the uncycled cannister. The water in the new tank had already been sitting in it for about 30 hrs so there was no chance of chlorine killing the bacteria that was now in the cannister.
I'm doing a fishless cycle so I've been adding ammonia and have been keeping the tank with an ammonia reading of about 3. This morning just out of curriosity I did a nitrites and nitrates test as well as the ammonia test. The ammonia was about 2-3, nitrites was 0 and nitrates was 5. The fact that I've got nitrates means somethings working as I must have bacteria to produce it.
What should I do now, should I just wait for a few days without adding any ammonia and then re-test or should I do a big water change and add a little more ammonia.

Thanks.. Oscar

[Merrilyn]

Oscar, congratulations, you're nearly there.

The bacteria colony needs to be large enough to remove the ammonia in 24 hours. So add your ammonia to bring the reading up to 3. Wait 24 hours. If the reading is now zero, then it's mature enough to handle a full bio load of fish.

If you still have a slight ammonia or nitrite reading, it's not quite ready.

[chrissyoscar]

Thanks Merrilyn

Adding some established bacteria has really sped up the cycle process. Hopefully it'll be ready by next week.

Oscar