Ammonia at 0 ppm after 4 days of cycling

[cutechic]

I bought a 10 gallon 4 days ago and have set it up with a UG filter that has activated carbon, and some gravel. Today the ammonia reading was still at 0 ppm. Is the activated carbon removing the ammonia from the water?

 

[sinistral]

What source of ammonia are you using?

 

[cutechic]

Safeway brand household ammonia. It says all it contains is water and ammonium hydroxide, but when I shake the bottle, it bubbles

 

[LoveMyOscar]

 

[cutechic]

The bubbles in the ammonia go away 30 seconds.

I've been using the method where I add 4-5 drops until the nitrates appear, but I haven't measured the ammonia after each time I add it.

You have to add ammonia until you get a reading of 5 ppm

I'll try your way tonight and see how much I have to add.

Edit: I added 6 drops of ammonia to get a reading of 5 ppm. Should I really measure the water parameters (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) every day, or can I just check in a couple of days to see if nitrates have appeared?