Cycle questions!

[Emilywoodham1997]

Hi everyone!
Basically I set up a new tank for cycling on Tuesday (so it’s been running a week tomorrow.) i have been adding food daily to get the ammonia up, but when using strips to test the water I haven’t read any ammonia or nitrites the whole week (My tap water has nitrates in so they stay at about 10-20ppm in my other tank usually.) But yesterday I tested the water and there was a small amount of nitrites. So I got the API freshwater master test kit and it also picked up nitrites. (Picture of tests are hopefully visible.) I have 6 real plants in my tank and I’m wondering if they are the reason I’m not reading any ammonia? Do these levels seem right for the first week of cycling? I’m kinda new to this. Any advice is appreciated!

 

[Phreaker]

It is odd you haven't seen ammonia at all. Did you use any filter media/gravel from your other tank?

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

It is odd you haven't seen ammonia at all. Did you use any filter media/gravel from your other tank?

I have used some gravel from a tank I had set up with fish in for only a few days (long story..) And I literally dropped the old sponge from another tank into this tank, it looked really clean though so I doubt it’s done much. I have ordered some of Dr.Tim’s ammonium chloride solution to try that out as I wonder if that would be easier to monitor..

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

I have used some gravel from a tank I had set up with fish in for only a few days (long story..) And I literally dropped the old sponge from another tank into this tank, it looked really clean though so I doubt it’s done much. I have ordered some of Dr.Tim’s ammonium chloride solution to try that out as I wonder if that would be easier to monitor..

But surely if there is nitrites there must have been ammonia in there at some point right? I’ve been testing once a day so I don’t know how I haven’t seen any..

 

[Phreaker]

As fish food decomposes, it slowly increases the ammonia level. You may have had enough bacteria to turn it all in to nitrite as it was produced.
You can check this when you get the ammonia chloride, if you add it and the ppm is noticeably lower the next day then you already have some of the necessary bacteria.

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

Oh okay, so that has significantly sped up the cycle process if that is the case I guess! At first I thought it was because I maybe hadn’t added enough dechlorinator, but i don’t think I’d have nitrites if that was the case? I added a little bit more anyway just incase.

 

[Phreaker]

I don't think dechlorinator was the issue.
Please do update with how it goes with the Dr. Tims ammonia solution.

 

[ITViking]

Don't forget that when you test for ammonia, there's two types of ammonia, one of which s more toxic than the other. Your test kit results might indicate that you have 0.0 ammonia (toxic NH3 ammonia), but you can still have a bit of less harmful NH4... enough to feed the bacteria that produce nitrites. I have the same thing going on in my tank, and I'm weeks in. Very little NH3 ammonia (registering 0.0) but still some ammonia, some nitrites, and lots of nitrates. Colder water and lower PH promotes less of the ammonia in your tank being the toxic type. But your tank will still cycle.

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

Yes I’ve heard about this.. my tank is 25 degrees and has a pH of 7.4-7.6 so I think that it would make the more toxic ammonia more likely?

 

[Phreaker]

Your test kit tests for total ammonia (NH3 and NH4+)

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

Today’s ammonia and nitrite tests..same as yesterday.

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

I have just discovered a stow-away snail in the tank..has obviously come with the plants . Will he be okay during the cycle? Haha.

 

[mcordelia]

Snail will probably be fine, if the ammonia or nitrites start to read high and you are interested in the well-being of the snail can always do a partial water change if you're worried about him. But honestly should be fine.

hopefully you will be able to get some good data with the Dr. Tim's, remember to test after adding to get a baseline so that you have something to compare to when you test 24h later.

 

[Emilywoodham1997]

Okay I’ll test straight after! He’s so cute and is now named Gary. I will keep an eye on him if my levels get higher, thank you! He seems so be very happy snacking on all the old food in there right now lol. And he’s really fast moving!

 

[ITViking]

Most test kits test for 'Total Ammonia Nitrogen' (TAN), but some will give a chart to see what the approximate NH3 (toxic ammonia) is. If your test kit doesn't do this, you can take the TAN reading you get from your test kit and then use an online calculator to get the NH3.