Cycling new 20 gallon freshwater

[LaWoWee]

I started cycling a freshwater 20 gallon tank about 8 days ago. I used 10 gallons of the water from a cycled tank. I have new gravel in there and new HOB filters on it one of them being an emperor 280 and i replace the new bio wheel with an established dirty one from my existing tank. After 2 days of running it and consistently adding stress zyme too, i decided to add fish to help cycle. I added 2 bala shark since theyre IMO pretty tough and hardy. Today marks 8 days and for the last 3 days i have been adding generous doses of "Hagen Cycle". I received my API FW master test kit today and i tested the water. My results are as followed:

Ammonia: between 0 - 0.25 ppm
Nitrite: around 5.0 ppm
Nitrate: looks like anywhere from 120-160 ppm

The bala sharks seem to be doing fine. Im just wondering if these levels are really bad or normal in the process of cycling. Ive read that water changes are vital for nitrite and nitrate spikes but will PWC's effect any of the bacferia colony that has been established so far?

 

[spoonman]

Those levels are terrible and will kill the fish. I would start daily PWC's. The bacteria is not in the water, it is developing in the filter and the substrate....etc.

BTW, the tank water from the other tank will not help at all. The filter from the established tank will.

 

[LaWoWee]

Thanks for the advice. Im going to get started on those daily PWC's.

 

[LaWoWee]

So im doing a 30% WC right now ATM. But before that i did another test to see if anything changed overnight and this time comparing the color chart under better lighting. My ammonia level is at 0, my nitrite is at 2ppm and my nitrate is at 40 ppm. So maybe my levels werent as bad. Just under bad lighting. Are these levels still not good?

 

[rich311k]

That nitrite number is down right dangerous to fish. You need to do two 50% changes to get it down. Ideally you want to keep it under .25 ppm.

 

[LaWoWee]

Day 3 update: i tested the water again 24 hours after the WC and ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is 20ppm. All looks good. Could it be that my tank has finished cycling or am I getting false readings from the Seachem Prime tap water conditioner that was used in the WC 24 hrs ago?

 

[LaWoWee]

Day 3 update: i tested the water again 24 hours after the WC and ammonia is 0, nitrite is 0, and nitrate is 20ppm. All looks good. Could it be that my tank has finished cycling or am I getting false readings from the Seachem Prime tap water conditioner that was used in the WC 24 hrs ago?

I do have an HOB with an old established bio wheel and i have a seperate HOB with no filtration media, just bio max straight out of the fluval canister from my other tank.