Odd Results During Cycling My Tank

[pilotsmoe]

What else can produce nitrate? wasn't expecting it at day 5 of my cycle.
Nitrate 80 ppm
Nitrite nil
Ammonia 1 ppm.

I will mention that I added nutrafin cycle. 5 fish (mollys) in 20 gallon tank

 

[boabmac63]

What else can produce nitrate? wasn't expecting it at day 5 of my cycle.
Nitrate 80 ppm
Nitrite nil
Ammonia 1 ppm.

I will mention that I added nutrafin cycle. 5 fish (mollys) in 20 gallon tank

U shouldnt be letting the ammonia get so high do a waterchange

 

[Xraymark]

Measure your tap water.

 

[CezzaXV]

Seems unlikely that your tap water could be that high, but it's more than possible that there are some present. Have you been dosing liquid fertilisers? These sometimes contain nitrates (though I'm told it's a different type of nitrate than what's produced during a cycle).

Also agree on changing your water ASAP. The highest you want to let both ammonia and nitrite go is 0.25ppm, and even that's too high long term.

 

[pilotsmoe]

I measured the tap, there's no nitrate in it at all.

 

[Xraymark]

The API nitrate tester is known to cause wrong results if not done right. I am assuming this is what you are using.

You really need to shake the second bottle before adding to the test tube. I sometimes kick it around the room.

 

[rousell]

Is there another nitrate tester out there that doesn't require being kicked round the room or one that won't make your arm feel like falling off?

 

[rousell]

Anybody?

 

[Xraymark]

Salifert testers are mean't to be good. I've never used them so can't comment on how aggressive you need to be to use them.

 

[ainsy]

I use salifert and yes they are very good IMO.

They don't need any kicking about as the nitrate test is made up of 2 powders.

 

[OldMan47]

Welcome pilotsmoe.
You are in a fish-in cycle and will need to do a water change based on your ammonia readings. We try to always keep both nitrites and ammonia at less than 0.25 ppm during a fish-in cycle. For details, follow the link in my signature area. Saliferts and the API brand both do an adequate job of guiding your cycle so do not stress over the brand name. All nitrate tests are sensitive to adequate mixing of the test chemical and the sample. They tend to read too low if you do not get adequate mixing. For the API kit, double the recommended mixing time and your results should be very consistent, not too high.
The ammonia results are really of concern. At a value of 1.0 ppm, you have at least 4 times what you should have for a fish-in cycle. Do an immediate large water change of at least 75%. Mollies are not especially tolerant of bad water chemistry, so get right on that water change. Once you have done a 75% or larger water change, check your chemistry again. There is no problem draining a molly tank to only 1 cm deep water and refilling it with dechlorinated, temperature matched water. I have done it on many occasions with good results. The mollies always looked better after such a change.