
Ok so ive bought a Jewel 180 Rio tank (180 litres) i set it up 4 days ago, all artificial plants etc... the temp is 26 degrees constant. i have put NO fish in as yet and dont really intend to until its cycled etc... what i have done is took my old filter out my old small goldfish tank and sqeezed it out into the tropical tank to get things going with the cycle, i am now on day 4 and just bought some test strips (King British 6 in 1 water test srtips) to keep an eye on the water . Here are the results of this.....
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrate: 0
Nitrite: 0
GH:125
KH:100
PH:7.2
Temp 27 degrees
Question is how do i know when my tank has cycled, i can clearly see that i have some ammonia present at the moment, but nothing else it seems, do i have to wait for the ammonia level to be sky high then come down and the Nitrite level to go up? read in the test leaflet Nitrite level should be zero?
Confused.com is slightly and understatement ha!
ANY help would be appreciated on what i have to do now and what to expect in the next few days etc
Many thanks