What do these parameters mean?

[jlbfish]

I am still debating taking water in for tests but I have 2 different API kits and so far readings are the same.

One tank has:
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites (IF the nitrates is above 0 it is definitely below 5)
0 Nitrates
???? But was cycled and hasn't shown any signs of ammonia. 75 gallon stock is 9 Red Eye Tetras, 9 Flame Tetras, 4 False Juliis and 7 Peppered Corys. There is a sad little Java fern in the tank and some driftwood but that shouldn't affect the nitrate reading right?

In my ISO/QT (FISHLESS) tank I am cycling it shows and has showed for the past 2 days
2 Ammonia
0 Nitrates
10-20 Nitrites
pH 8.2
What isn't it taking care of the ammonia?

The sponges we used oh so long ago were taken from the 75 when my ISO crashed so I am debating putting them back and starting fresh in the ISO tank.

Any advice or insight?

Thanks
Jana

 

[George9]

I am still debating taking water in for tests but I have 2 different API kits and so far readings are the same.

One tank has:
0 Ammonia
0 Nitrites (IF the nitrates is above 0 it is definitely below 5)
0 Nitrates
???? But was cycled and hasn't shown any signs of ammonia. 75 gallon stock is 9 Red Eye Tetras, 9 Flame Tetras, 4 False Juliis and 7 Peppered Corys. There is a sad little Java fern in the tank and some driftwood but that shouldn't affect the nitrate reading right?

In my ISO/QT (FISHLESS) tank I am cycling it shows and has showed for the past 2 days
2 Ammonia
0 Nitrates
10-20 Nitrites
pH 8.2
What isn't it taking care of the ammonia?

The sponges we used oh so long ago were taken from the 75 when my ISO crashed so I am debating putting them back and starting fresh in the ISO tank.

Any advice or insight?

Thanks
Jana

Id keep an eye on the cycled tank for a while, it is odd you have 0 nitrates for a cycled tank. Did you bang the bottles on a table for a minute? If not, I get sometimes weird results. Id bang and shake the bottles like crazy and retest.

Id dose the ammo in the cycling tank up to 4 and see what happens. You're processing some ammonia which is good, and nitrites are a good sign

 

[jlbfish]

I do shake it and bang bottle #2. Do I need to bang bottle #1 as well?

As for the ISO tank what concerns me is that the ammonia doesn't seem to be going down :/. So I was hesitant to up it any higher.
Thanks for the input!
Jana

 

[George9]

I do shake it and bang bottle #2. Do I need to bang bottle #1 as well?

As for the ISO tank what concerns me is that the ammonia doesn't seem to be going down :/. So I was hesitant to up it any higher.
Thanks for the input!
Jana

Yes, I bang both (bottles) lol that sounded weird

Yeah, it probably means that its only processing 2 ppm of ammonia. If you dose back to 4, and it goes back down to 2 ppm, you'll know that's what it is. Dose back up and see what happens tommorrow. It just takes time my last fishless cycle took 47 DAYS!!

Also, if yyour nitrites keep climbing, a 50% pwc is a good idea. When your nitrites rise too high, it can stall the cycle. Youre fine now though

 

[librarygirl]

Your 75 gal is stocked pretty lightly, which is probably why there's not many nitrates. My 40 breeder isn't stocked much either and I only get 5 nitrates between water changes. Have you done a water change on the 75 recently? If so that's probably why the nitrates are 0. To double-check you can shake/bang BOTH bottles for 30 seconds then the test tube for a full minute and wait 5 minutes for the results.

How long have you been cycling the ISO tank? If it's only been two days that's probably why lol It can take two weeks before the ammonia starts to drop. Also did you get the nitrite/nitrate numbers mixed up in your post?

Is the ISO tank for a quarantine or is it long-term for fish?

 

[jlbfish]

Ok Thanks all! I have figured it out thanks to you!

While I have done a fishless cycle before it wasn't really with seeded media that I thought made a difference. Since the ISO/QT (which is currently long term as I am stocking my tanks) had been cycled and crashed I thought adding the sponges would be immediate. My mistake. It has now cycled through the ammonia. I will hold off on calling it done and allow it to digest 1ppm up to 4ppm of Ammonia and see how it goes.

The 75 gallon I was testing too soon. I started banging both bottles and waited a few more days and I have Nitrates. About 5 so that is good too!

I think I am balancing back out. Thanks so much!

Jana