Is my tank cycling or what?

[heavy_heart]

I have a 5 gallon tank all set up and running. Following a guide I found online, I dosed it with ammonia to 4-5 ppm. Someone on here said that might be too high so I lowered it to around 2 on April 27. It stayed there for 8 days.

I also tested for nitrAtes for several days because I had introduced some filter material from my tank at work and wanted to make sure nothing funny happened. The nitrAtes were at 2.5 for a while.

Not much else happened until about 4 days ago. The filter material started turning green in spots (algae?) and my ammonia FINALLY started dropping. It went down to 1.5 then .75 then .25 from day to day to day.

I dosed it back up to 1 yesterday morning and now it's back at .75. My nitrAtes appear to be rising also (it's hard to tell with the test kit, but it looks darker than it did). It's now around 20.

The part I'm confused about is that I have not once seen a ANY nitrItes. At all. I've been testing every single evening.

What does this mean? And how should I proceed from here onward? Should I keep adding some ammonia to the tank or let it drop all the way to 0? Is my tank on it's way to being cycled?

Thank you for any advice you can give me.

 

[librarygirl]

Seems like it's starting; ammonia is being used up so that's a good sign. You may or may not see nitrites if you've used enough filter material but it's too early to tell yet. I'd keep dosing ammonia when it falls under .5 and see what happens.

 

[heavy_heart]

Thanks for your reply. When should I stop adding ammonia? How will I know when it's definitely ready for fishies?