Another cycling question

[meviva]

I was wondering how far into the cycle nitrites start showing up. My 10 gal. has been set up for a week and a half. I have 4 fish in the tank and several plants. I used Quick Start when setting up the tank. I have made only one 30% water change when the ammonia read .25 ppm. The past few days the readings have been ammonia and nitrite 0 and nitrate 5.0 ppm. I tested my tap water and it read ammonia/nitrite 0 and nitrate 5.0 just like my tank results. So when (approximately) will I see nitrite readings? I know its still early in the process but how am i going to know if its ready if the readings don't change? I am using the API freshwater master test kit.

Thanks,
Andrea

 

[44gallon]

Your aquarium seems to be cycling normally. A dose of Bio-Spira would probably help things along. Live plants will use nitrates and of course nothing replaces those partial water changes. Waste is broken down as follows, Ammonia to nitrites and nitrites to nitrates and then water changes. since you have 0 ammonia and 0 nitrites and you have nitrates showing up i would consider adding an easy to grow live plant such as hornwort etc. to help keeping the nitrates low. Nitrates are not as toxic to fish as the first two but it can be stessful to them and along with phosphates cause algae problems. Using a bio-wheel filter can help greatly with the biological balance of your tank. In a month your aquarium should be fairly balanced and you could add more fish slowly depending on fish size.

 

[librarygirl]

What fish do you have? Even 4 small fish in an uncycled tank should be producing some ammonia by now. Are you using strips or liquid? Strips aren't very accurate. Sometimes, not often, but sometimes the cycle products actually do work; maybe you're one of the lucky ones. If you have strips I'd ditch them for the API Liquid kit. Otherwise I'd just be patient and see what happens; it's still pretty early. Nitrites typically show up in week 3 or 4, but every tank is different.