Cycling question - water test results

[dontgetbit]

I have been cycling a 55 gal freshwater for a week and a half, started on 1/16. I started the tank up with water from the tap with Prime, new filters in both hob filters and 2 airstones. There are 6 Buenos Aires tetras to get the cycle going. Last week I pulled the dirty filter out of the hob from a tank at work and cleaned it out in my tank. Within 30 minutes the water was back clear. This tuesday I purchased a bottle of Stability and dosed the tank to the past 3 days. Here are the results that I have been getting, testing daily or every 2 days with my API kit.

Before today:
Ammonia - 1.0 ppm
Nitrite - 0.0 ppm
Nitrate 0.0 ppm

Tonight:
Ammonia - 1.5 ppm
Nitrite - 0.0 ppm
Nitrate - 5.0 ppm

Why do I have nitrates now and still have ammonia? Why did I never see any nitrites?

 

[Deaths Sting]

what does before today mean?

ammonia was 1ppm when?

 

[dontgetbit]

what does before today mean?

Every other time I tested. I tested daily since last Friday and before that it was every 2 days.

 

[Deaths Sting]

Every other time I tested. I tested daily since last Friday and before that it was every 2 days.

when was it 1 ppm?

how many days ago did u get that result?

 

[dawnmarie]

I can't imagine cycling a tank with fish. Fishless cycling is so painless (at least for the fish). Good luck.

 

[dontgetbit]

The ammonia was 1.0 ppm starting on 1/20 and remained as of my test last night. Today was the first change.

If it helps, I tested my tap water and it reads between .25 and .5 ppm. After treating with Prime its do 0.00 ppm.

 

[Deaths Sting]

I can't imagine cycling a tank with fish. Fishless cycling is so painless (at least for the fish). Good luck.

+1

i agree.

it puts alot of stress on the fish plus u only cycle the tank to the bio load that is in the tank while its being cycled. which means, if u add more fish then u start the cycle over again because ur increasing the bio load. to a already established smaller bio load.

with pure ammonia u could set the bio load to whatever u want.

 

[Deaths Sting]

The ammonia was 1.0 ppm starting on 1/20 and remained as of my test last night. Today was the first change.

If it helps, I tested my tap water and it reads between .25 and .5 ppm. After treating with Prime its do 0.00 ppm.

ur tap water has ammonia in it?! yikes!

 

[dontgetbit]

+1

i agree.

it puts alot of stress on the fish plus u only cycle the tank to the bio load that is in the tank while its being cycled. which means, if u add more fish then u start the cycle over again because ur increasing the bio load. to a already established smaller bio load.

with pure ammonia u could set the bio load to whatever u want.

I do regret not doing a fishless cycle, however I went this route and if the tank gets out of hand I have a cycled tank to put the fish in if needed. Its all a learning process. The addition of new fish will be very slow in this tank. The next to be added is a juve JD.

As for the bio load and starting it over with the addition of fish, does the same not hold true for fishless cycling? For example, if you cycle the tank with a large amount of ammonia and cycle with a large bio load capability, yet only add a small amount of fish. Does the bb not die off to a level that your stock can feed?

 

[dontgetbit]

ur tap water has ammonia in it?! yikes!

Yes, from what I understand the city water is treated with chloramine which contains both chlorine and ammonia. So there are very small traces of ammonia in the water, which Prime appears to remove rather well.