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Cycling a planted 20g long tank

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Sergical

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I had previously cycled a 10g tank with fish in it and now wanted to try a planted cycle.
In my 20g tank I have 2 amazon swords, 3 water sprite, and some horn wort. I am mostly familiar with the nitrogen cycle but not sure what all the numbers mean when it comes to testing and was hoping to get some answer.
I have had my tank running for 4 days and tested the water and got the following results ( I used API Master Test Kit )

Nitrite - around 1.0ppm
Nitrate - in between 0 and 5.0ppm ( more towards the 5ppm)
Ammonia - 2.0ppm

I know the tank has only been running for a little bit of time. I just came here to seek some guidance and to see if everything is going well and if anyone has some tips for the future. I know the tank is cycled when I add ammonia and it drops to 0, as well as 0 nitrites which are bad for fish. Thanks!
Forgot to say - I also have 2 rocks and a big piece of driftwood
 

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Don't bother testing for nitrate until the tank has finished cycling. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and you get a false reading.

You have some ammonia and some nitrite and that indicates there is some beneficial bacteria converting the ammonia into nitrite.

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If you have an established tank with an established filter, you can take half the filter material and put it in the new tank for an instant cycled tank.
 
Colin_T said:
Don't bother testing for nitrate until the tank has finished cycling. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and you get a false reading.

You have some ammonia and some nitrite and that indicates there is some beneficial bacteria converting the ammonia into nitrite.

--------------
If you have an established tank with an established filter, you can take half the filter material and put it in the new tank for an instant cycled tank.
Click to expand...
Anything you recommend me doing besides waiting? When should I test again?
 
Test for nitrates after the ammonia and nitrite have both gone up and come back down to 0.

Test for ammonia and nitrite a couple of times a week.
 
Sergical said:
Anything you recommend me doing besides waiting? When should I test again?
Click to expand...
I test for Ammonia and Nitrite once a week. When I was cycling, I did it a couple times a week.
 
With those plants growing (you indicated they are not dying), you should not see ammonia or nitrite at all. You do not "cycle" planted tanks. Are you adding any artificial ammonia? I ask because the nitrite at 1 is very odd, it should be zero. Was the testing accurate?
 
Cool looking tank i like your substrate what is it?
 
Byron said:
With those plants growing (you indicated they are not dying), you should not see ammonia or nitrite at all. You do not "cycle" planted tanks. Are you adding any artificial ammonia? I ask because the nitrite at 1 is very odd, it should be zero. Was the testing accurate?
Click to expand...
I can retest for the nitrite if you'd like. The issue might be that I added my tap water to it. For some reason my tap water contains pretty high levels of ammonia. Should I do a water change and add RO water? I've read about countless people cycling their tanks with just plants am I doing it wrong?
 
Sergical said:
I can retest for the nitrite if you'd like. The issue might be that I added my tap water to it. For some reason my tap water contains pretty high levels of ammonia. Should I do a water change and add RO water? I've read about countless people cycling their tanks with just plants am I doing it wrong?
Click to expand...

Not necessarily wrong, but let's ensure things are on track. Nitrite should be zero. Plants take up ammonia/ammonium but they do not produce nitrite. How high is the ammopnia...is this the one where it is 8 ppm in the tap water? If yes, then it is possible the ammonia is beyond what the plants can use and the bacteria will result in nitrite, and eventually nitrate. Adding some floating plants would help this.
 
Yes, Nitrite should be 0ppm at all times. Anything over 0ppm can be harmful to your fish.
 
Byron said:
Not necessarily wrong, but let's ensure things are on track. Nitrite should be zero. Plants take up ammonia/ammonium but they do not produce nitrite. How high is the ammopnia...is this the one where it is 8 ppm in the tap water? If yes, then it is possible the ammonia is beyond what the plants can use and the bacteria will result in nitrite, and eventually nitrate. Adding some floating plants would help this.
Click to expand...
Ammonia is at about 1ppm which is considerably less than what my ammonia is in my tap water. Let me retest for the nitrites and make sure I tested them right.
 
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