Cycle crashed... maybe?

[maxst2]

Seems my 5 gallon tank has had the cycle crashed...maybe...

Ammonia is really high according to API tests and Nitrate and Nitrite are 0.

Been doing 25% water changes with filtered water + decholorinator every couple days for the last week.

Fish and the bunch of ghost shrimp I have look and are active and are eating great...even come to the front where I feed them when I come over.

With that... I've had a lovely brown algae bloom...shrimp are having a feast, but its still a problem - maybe why my nitrates and nitrites are 0? Since then I've only had the lights on for short time - i have a live plant I just put in last week as well, so far it looks happy as well.

No sure what to do..l

Any advice?

 

[mattrox]

Do 50% pwcs let the ammonia levels go down and nitrites go up. Keep them up until nitrites drop to 0 and nitrates start rising.

 

[BigJim]

How long has the tank been cycling? It can take several weeks to start seeing nitrites.

Do PWCs to keep the ammonia below 0.25ppm if you have fish in the tank. It may take PWCs twice a day to accomplish this.