Ok, now what? cycling

[Meredith]

My ammo was 8.0 for one week, and it has dropped from 8.0 to 0 in the last 3 days. My nitrItes are at 5.0, and my nitrAtes are between 80 and 160.
My questions are, do I need to start feeding the bacteria at this point, and if so, can I just use fish food? Also, my nitrAtes are extremely high, but can I hold off doing a water change, or should I do one now? Thanks a bunch.

 

[electrikat]

Don't change the water till the nitrites are zero also. Then do a 50% water change and go for it. Don't feed any thing to the tank.

 

[EJS4]

Do not worry about nitrates until nitrites drop. High Nitrites can cause false elevate nitrate reading. Do not need to feed bacteria they have plenty already. High nitrite reading means that theres still a lot of ammonia being broken down to nitrite, you just don't have enough nitrite bacteria to keep up with it.
How's the tank look? Is the smell gone yet?

 

[Meredith]

Cool, thanks! Im really starting to get excited. The water has cleared up nicely, and the smell is gone, thank goodness. I added the old background, but I need to get a new one. There is also some salt on the back of the tank that I can't reach that needs to be cleaned. I will add some updated pics, you can see I am working on "refinishing" the stand. I got some contact paper that looks like wood, and I cut it to fit various parts of the stand. It doesn't look too bad.

 

[EJS4]

Looks great!

 

[Fluff]

Wow, congrats Meredith. The tank is looking awesome.

 

[Meredith]

I couln't have done it without the wonderful people here. I don't think I can say it enough, Thank You everyone!!!

 

[electrikat]

150g ( jealousy sets in)