Cycling a new tank

[bernie82]

I set up a brand new sixty tank a few days ago, using a bio wheel filter that had been established from another tank. After waiting about 24 hours for the tap water in the tank to stabilize, I added seven 3 to 5 inch Discus. My tap water has no Chlorimines and I removed the chlorine from the water before adding the fish.
The ammonia test and nitrite test continue to read 0 ppm. Does that mean the tank has cycled? Why do I hear about it taking about 6 weeks for a new tank to cycle. Is there anything else I should test for? I'm doing about 30% water change every day.
Am I OK or should I expect some problems soon?

[Jeff]

Bernie,

What you did was cool. You took an established filter and moved it. If you took a new one out of the box it could take that long to get established. Yours was established as soon as you put your old filter on it. You should have no problems.

[GulfCoastDiscus]

Bernie,
It also depends on how much bio-load you had in your other tank where you took the wheel. With your water changes you should be ok but if you start to see problems do larger water changes.

dan

Put a couple of culls in and they can tell you if they are ready in a few days. Nitrobacters need food to grow.
Jimmy.

[ronrca]

Your on the right track Bernie! What I do when starting a new tank with an established filter is throw in some ammonia (5-8ppm) and test the ammonia/nitrite levels the next day to see if the filter can handle the load. If the levels are 0 the next day, big water change and fish go in next. If not, keep testing the levels on a daily basis until the cycle is complete (0 ammoina/nitrite). Then repeat (add ammonia......etc, etc). This will ensure the filter is 125% ready to handle anything you put in the tank. ;)