Sorry I haven't posted here in a while. I've been rather busy with stuff.
Anyway, please post your log to this forum as it will help folks to get a better read of exactly what is taking place with your cycle. Things seem to be moving along very rapidly for you. That's good. Don't read too much into the nitrate test. Ultimately, the nitrate is very difficult to get an accurate reading from. (Make sure when doing that test that you bash the bottle #2 around for a good long while - more than the 30 seconds that they recommend - and that you bang it on a table a few times. There are two reagents in that bottle and one of them is a powder, assuming you are using API, and that means it takes extra effort to get it properly mixed. Then immediately add it to the test tube before it starts to resettle. Also shake up the tube a bunch - longer than the minute that is recommended.)
Look at the trends in the ammonia and nitrite readings. They will tell you where you are in the process. If ammonia is dropping every 12 hours, that's great. If the nitrite is clearing every 24 hours, that's outstanding, meaning you are in phase three. Post the results of each day (and both test during the 12 hour test period) and we can give you more feedback. Include the time of test as well as the dosing time, pH, temp, ammonia, nitrite and even nitrate if you have it, but don't put too much stock in the nitrate numbers. If the ammonia and nitrite are clearing, the nitrates will be there, even if they don't show up on the test.
It sounds like everything is going along great, just keep at it and try not to stress about a single result. The key is the trend that you see, not a single data point. This is a biological process much more than it is a chemical one, so there are many more factors involved. Focus on the whole picture and you can see what is happening. If you focus only on the data points you end up like me staring closely at a Monet. It just won't make sense because it's just a series of dots, but when you stand back and look at it from a further distance, the individual dots will show a much more interesting picture.
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"I have been.. ahaha"(was still testing every day tho).. I actually had some issues with my Tap water when I first started my Cycle. I had WAY over 8 ppm somehow (Tap has 1ppm). After a week it was still above 8ppm Ammonia. So I did a 100% water change, used the Calculator to compensate for my Tap and in 2 days it was down to 2ppm then next day 0ppm
.. It's been, like the log says, at .25ppm after 12 hours and 0 in 24. Same with Nitrate.
