question about tank

[Cheifwalnut]

I set up my 7.5 gallon 9 days ago. I haven't touched it besides topping off the water since. My ammonia is at .50 my nitrite is as high as my test reads at 5.0 my nitrates are at 20 ppm and my pH is 8.4. Would this be considered normal for only being 9 days into the cycle? Also in the pictures you can see the discoloration in the sand. I'm assuming it's algae. Is that normal or is something wrong?

 

[Cheifwalnut]

https://flic.kr/p/JHxZxy

 

[fishfanatic80]

What are you cycling your tank with?

 

[ShanerBock888]

Status of day 9 can vary greatly, depending on a lot of factors, including what you cycle your tank with, like fishfanatic asked. It seems pretty normal to me. When I cycle a tank I test all water parameters daily to make sure it's trending in the right direction. If you have some ammonia and some nitrites, you should be testing to see if ammo is dropping. Soon it should drop to zero or near zero. Nitrites will stay sky high for a while and then suddenly drop pretty drastically. When they hit zero and stay there despite the addition of more food or ammonia then you're ready to do a 90% water change and add fish.

So just keep testing your water and make sure it's trending in that direction. That trend is more significant than where it's at at any given moment. Also, your pH is normal and will fluctuate throughout the cycle, and algae growth is common in cycling or newly cycled tanks.

Here's a link to a great description of fishless cycling
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...guide-and-faq-to-fishless-cycling-148283.html

 

[quennosabe]

Just add Dr. tim nitrifying bacteria into the system and you are all set to go a day after.

 

[ShanerBock888]

Just add Dr. tim nitrifying bacteria into the system and you are all set to go a day after.

I use Dr Tim's but if you test your water afterwards you'll see it doesn't work as advertised. It does act as a seed, introducing bacteria which can then multiply, but I have used it on at least a dozen tanks and found that the tank is not ready nearly as quickly as they say.

 

[Cheifwalnut]

This is old, tanks doing okay. Waiting on my skimmer to come in the mail. And trying to locate rodi water locally..