Fishless cycle, Tetra Safe Start

[gmez21]

I'm about 2 or 3 weeks into a fishless cycle, i dosed to about 2-3 ppm of ammonia. i got nitrites for 1 day at a very low reading and then they went down to zero which was weird while ammonia stayed the same. Nitrates were zero too.

yesterday i put in 4/5ths of a 8.45 fl oz bottle of tetra safe start (other portion went in my 10 gal just for good luck) By the end of that night, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were all present.

currently my readings are:

ammonia: about 3ppm
nitrites: 2ppm
nitrates: 5 ppm

i guess i thought it was a little weird how nitrites and nitrates both went up but ammonia stayed the same. i don't know.

am i on the right track? will this tank eventually be cycled? im just skeptical and can't get the thought out of my head that ive messed up this tank and it will never cycle :( but its only been 2 and a half weeks lol...

so will the ammonia and nitrites level out and decrease soon? i was hoping to add a couple fish this weekend

[Lady Hobbs]

Bacteria boosters are for cycling with fish, not with ammonia. It does no good pouring it into a tank already with high ammonia levels.

Cycling below.

[Omega3s]

LH is right. SafeStart is meant to be added with fish, or shortly thereafter.