Confusing Cycle

[Phil Marsh]

I am posting on behalf of my brother.
Ive been testing his tank as he does a fishless cycle for the past 4 weeks or so.
cycle started as normal then about 4 weeks in the levels went as follows.
 
ammonia: 1-2ppm
Nitrites: 0
nitrates 5
 
before the levels where
ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite: 2ppm
Nitrates: 40ppm
 
any idea what has happened?
i shook all the test bottles properly
he has been adding fish food daily to mimic ammonia
thanks
phil

 

[fatheadminnow]

What test kit are you using and do you have plants in the tank?  I would also suggest a better source of ammonia. 
 
Has your brother added any water conditioner?  Your readings do not make a whole lot of sense.  Please give us more information.  Thanks. 

 

[Phil Marsh]

What test kit are you using and do you have plants in the tank?  I would also suggest a better source of ammonia. 
 
Has your brother added any water conditioner?  Your readings do not make a whole lot of sense.  Please give us more information.  Thanks. 

He is using my API master test kit and there are no plants as of yet... he is waiting for the cycle to finish before adding them
as for water conditioner all he has used is tap water safe  
 
his cycle was coming along nicely all levels where running as they should 
ammonia had just dropped to 0 and nitrite was around 1-2ppm with 40ppm of nitrate.
this weekend we tested it and the ammonia had rocketed to 2ppm and the nitrite had dropped to 0
as well as the nitrate dropping to 5ppm

 

[fatheadminnow]

That is strange for sure.  Have you doubled checked the levels again (possible to have human error).  Dose ammonia up to 5 ppm if it is for sure at 0 ppm.  
 
And he hasn't done any water changes?  There maybe something in the tank that is giving off ammonia?  What does he have for substrate and for a filter?

 

[Phil Marsh]

That is strange for sure.  Have you doubled checked the levels again (possible to have human error).  Dose ammonia up to 5 ppm if it is for sure at 0 ppm.  
 
And he hasn't done any water changes?  There maybe something in the tank that is giving off ammonia?  What does he have for substrate and for a filter?

he has carbon sponges in his filter and gravel in the bottom. its still rather bare at this moment in time.
there is quite a bit of fish food still in the filter? and he took some of my water and did a change (25%) AFTER he did these tests

 

[fatheadminnow]

That is strange for sure.  Have you doubled checked the levels again (possible to have human error).  Dose ammonia up to 5 ppm if it is for sure at 0 ppm.  
 
And he hasn't done any water changes?  There maybe something in the tank that is giving off ammonia?  What does he have for substrate and for a filter?

he has carbon sponges in his filter and gravel in the bottom. its still rather bare at this moment in time.
there is quite a bit of fish food still in the filter? and he took some of my water and did a change (25%) AFTER he did these tests

 
Taking water form an already established tank is not going to do anything beause the bacteria we colonize do so on surfaces,  These bacteria live on surfaces and are NOT free swimming.  The only way to transfer the bacteria from your tank to his is by giving him some of your filter medai.
 
He only has carbon in his filter?  I am going to take a wild guess and say this may have some issues as to why you are seeing these results.  Ditch the carbon and get some good, sponge type, filter media.  Give him some of yours.  Carbon is not needed in our filters.  I can go in depth if you want me to.


So I would get rid of the carbon and give him some of your established filter media.  Make sure ammonia is around 5ppm and go from there.  I would also try to get a bottle of Ammonia from your local hardware store.  This is a much better way to go because you can control the ammonia intake a lot more. 
 
let me know what you decide to do.
 
What type of filter, exactly (brand and model) is he running on this tank?  And what size tank?
 
After doing what I said come back and let us know what's going on.
 
Include:
Ammonia level:
Nitrite level:
Nitrate level:
pH:
Tank Temperature: