N00b cycling question

[akangelfood]

Yes, I've read all of the posts, and lots of articles. I've cycled numerous tanks, but not like this...

I bought a 30 gallon tank on Friday night. I set it up, added a 4 inch long strip of established filter media, plants from an established tank, and driftwood from an established tank. I also added some "packaged" bacteria. Yes, I know many of you say it does nothing, which is exactly why I'm not relying on it alone.

The only problem I'm having is that I've never cycled a tank in this manner before and was out of town for the weekend, so I was obviously unable to track the chemistry. I tested the water today and found no detectable amounts of amonia, 10 ppm nitrates, and no nitrites.

Is the tank already ready? If not, how long should I expect to see that occur? I've read so many people claim that it's the "fastest" way to cycle a tank, but how fast IS fast?

Sanka in advance.

[BV77]

how many fish are in the tank? There is a possibility that you have saved enough bacteria, so that with a light fish load, you will see no cycle

[akangelfood]

There aren't any fish in the new tank yet It is the new tank I got for the angels, but I LOVE those angels and want to be sure it's ready before I move them.

[BV77]

you will need a source of ammonia to keep the bacteria alive...either from fish or artificial source
I've seeded many tanks like that before and added fish right away, and avoided a cycle...if you have enough plants, wood , gravel and filter media from an established tank, I'd say, add the two angels, they won't put alot of bioload on the tank, along with weekly partial water changes, you should be fine

[akangelfood]

Makes so much sense, I can't believe I missed it. I went ahead and moved them. Thanks Bob, you're the best!

[COM]

Yeah, what you did is a very effective way of instantly cycling a tank, but you need something live in there to give off ammonia for it to break down.

I would never directly feed ammonia into a tank. That just fundamentally seems counterproductive to me. In a pinch, if I couldn't add fish, I'd put in some fish food.