Er... has my tank cycled already?

[Niku-M]

I tested my water today and my ammonia/nitrites are 0 both, while my nitrates are between 10 and 25 mg/L. My tank has been running since last Friday when I also added a bit of "Bio Starter" from Tetra. I have my plants in since Monday and could the bacteria population have grown to a sufficient level because of some of the debris that came with my plants? Can I add some fish now or should I add some ammonia each day until I reach a higher nitrate level (I haven't done a water change once)?

Note: my tank is 5 gallons big.

[Chrona]

Continue adding however much ammonia it took to get to 5 ppm each day for a few more days just in case. It is possibly that the plants are helping absorb it, and bacteria does settle on plants.

[Niku-M]

Oh well I forgot to mention that I haven't added any ammonia to my tank yet because I didn't get any testers until today. When adding ammonia should I just add some drops of it and test after every drop? Is there a way to do this efficiently?

[Chrona]

Oh well I forgot to mention that I haven't added any ammonia to my tank yet because I didn't get any testers until today. When adding ammonia should I just add some drops of it and test after every drop? Is there a way to do this efficiently?

EDIT: Er wait, do you have fish in this tank?

Just add ammonia 10 drops at a time until you get about 5 ppm for ammonia, remember that amount and add that much each day until your nitrites go off the charts. Your tank is not cycled in this case, because the bacteria have no source of food and the tank has no source of ammonia (which normally comes from fish waste), so you shouldn't be seeing any ammonia or nitrite.

[Niku-M]

No lol, no fish at all, maybe I'm being very fuzzy at the moment. I was just surprised with my nitrates being quite high after 2 days of plants.I thought this could maybe be because of the debris that came with my plants (technically plant debris should contain proteins which could become ammonia). Although cycling in 2 days seems to be extremely short.

I'll just start cycling 'by the book' now. By the way should I test all values once a day while cycling or more often to catch this nitrite spike?

[jeffs99dime]

also, test your tap water parameters so you know what your levels are prior to introduction into the tank.

[Chrona]

No lol, no fish at all, maybe I'm being very fuzzy at the moment. I was just surprised with my nitrates being quite high after 2 days of plants.I thought this could maybe be because of the debris that came with my plants (technically plant debris should contain proteins which could become ammonia). Although cycling in 2 days seems to be extremely short.

I'll just start cycling 'by the book' now. By the way should I test all values once a day while cycling or more often to catch this nitrite spike?

It is possible you have nitrates from your tap water.

With a fishless cycle, I wouldn't bother testing for nitrites until your ammonia starts going down significantly. Likewise, I wouldn't test for nitrates until your nitrites start dropping. Cut ammonia to 1/2 dosage upon seeing the nitrite spike.

[jeffs99dime]

It is possible you have nitrates from your tap water.

With a fishless cycle, I wouldn't bother testing for nitrites until your ammonia starts going down significantly. Likewise, I wouldn't test for nitrates until your nitrites start dropping. Cut ammonia to 1/2 dosage upon seeing the nitrite spike.

i have nitrates from my tap. it's not a problem for me anymore as i have an r.o. filter. just wanted to back up chrona's statement though:thumb:

[Lady Hobbs]

Your tank can not cycle without a source of ammonia either thru pure ammonia or thru fish. The bacteria you added was an aid in helping it along but will not do the cycle by itself.

Like the others mentioned add PURE ammonia (without additivies) to bring the reading to 5. I believe that's about 5 drops per 10 gallon so you can take it from there. It was about 5 T. for my 55 gallon.

[Niku-M]

I calculated that I should add about 0,5 mL of a < 10% ammonia solution per 10L but after I tested I still got a 0 reading. I added the same amount another time and the reading still did not go up. I don't understand why this is, how can the ammonia go down so fast even if I calculated the amount needed to get to 5 mg/L?

Edit: am I calculating wrong... maybe it should be 50 mL per Liter at least ... but that seems to much. Edit2: lol nevermind, it should be 0,5 mL but maybe the ammonia solution I have is waaay less than 10%.

Chrona/Jeffs99dime there is actually a little bit of nitrate in my tap water (the color changes slightly), but I'm still wondering how the concentration of nitrates got quite a lot higher in my tank water.

[Chrona]

I calculated that I should add about 0,5 mL of a < 10% ammonia solution per 10L but after I tested I still got a 0 reading. I added the same amount another time and the reading still did not go up. I don't understand why this is, how can the ammonia go down so fast even if I calculated the amount needed to get to 5 mg/L?

Edit: am I calculating wrong... maybe it should be 50 mL per Liter at least ... but that seems to much.

Chrona/Jeffs99dime there is actually a little bit of nitrate in my tap water (the color changes slightly), but I'm still wondering how the concentration of nitrates got quite a lot higher in my tank water.

How much ammonia did you have to add the first day to reach 5 ppm? Adding ammonia based on readings further into the cycling process because the bacteria will eat up a lot of it before you can measure it.

[Niku-M]

Before today I have not yet added any ammonia to my tank, is this where I went wrong? I hadn't bought any testers yet so I figured I could leave the tank and start cycling later.

The bottle of ammonia I have is pretty old and since ammonia easily escapes from the bottle and the bottle doesn't explicitly mentions the ammonia content I went ahead and added 5 mL of this solution (since the 1 mL I added before didn't give any result I figured the solution must be lower then 1 % or so.) And guess what I'm still getting a result of 0 (although the color is a tiny bit different). I have also tested for nitrites each time and they kept being 0 also.

I guess I have to buy a new ammonia solution that has a more clearly defined concentration of ammonia so that I can just calculate the amount of that solution needed until I get a nitrite spike.

[Chrona]

Before today I have not yet added any ammonia to my tank, is this where I went wrong? I hadn't bought any testers yet so I figured I could leave the tank and start cycling later.

The bottle of ammonia I have is pretty old and since ammonia easily escapes from the bottle and the bottle doesn't explicitly mentions the ammonia content I went ahead and added 5 mL of this solution (since the 1 mL I added before didn't give any result I figured the solution must be lower then 1 % or so.) And guess what I'm still getting a result of 0 (although the color is a tiny bit different). I have also tested for nitrites each time and they kept being 0 also.

I guess I have to buy a new ammonia solution that has a more clearly defined concentration of ammonia so that I can just calculate the amount of that solution needed until I get a nitrite spike.

If you are just starting, then add enough ammonia to reach 7 ppm according to the test kit (to adjust for the plants absorbing some). Then add that amounts each day until you get your nitrite spike, then cut dosage in half. It's very tough to go just based on calculations because as you said, the ammonia doesn't keep.

[Niku-M]

I'll try to add some more of the solution tomorrow check if the ammonia concentration in my tank will actually go up to those levels, if not I will buy some new ammonia. Thanks a lot for the help.

[Niku-M]

Heh, I tested with 20 mL of the solution in 1 L tap water and the test still didn't show anything. Guess there's almost no ammonia left after all those years. I will get a new bottle tomorrow.