Cycling - Never saw Nitrites?? Now have Nitrates.

[lbanner]

Hello: I'm fishless cycling a 55gal freshwater. I seeded it with filter media, some substrate, and decor from an existing 20 gal. The 20 gal has been set up for three + years... I'm using pure ammonia, and have given the tank a tiny bit of ground up fish food twice in the past 10 days to give it nutrients...
I've been testing water every day for Ammonia, and every few days for all parameters. (Using API Freshwater liquid tests)
As of this morning, all of a sudden I have Nitrates, but I never saw Nitrites. Did I do something wrong?? Do I need to be concerned??
Or did I give the tank too much fish food that is now decaying, so that's why I have Nitrates??

Here's the parameter history for the past week:
6/4 Am 3; pH 7.6, Ni 0, Na 0
6/5 Am 3 (didn't test other)
6/6 Am 2 (didn't test other)
6/7 Am 2, pH 7.6, Ni 0, Na 0
6/8 Am 1... then I redosed it back up to 4
6/9 Am 4 (didn't test other)
6/10 Am 3 (didn't test other)
6/11 Am 1, pH 7.6, Ni 0, Na 30 (it's in between the color of 20 and 40)

Should I be worried? Thanks!!

 

[ImACoolguy]

The filter media could have made you skip the nitrite step. I'd keep testing and Spain ammonia to make sure though.


Caleb

 

[lbanner]

Ahhh - I didn't know that could happen... And, this might sound silly, but what does "Spain" ammonia mean? Thanks Caleb!

 

[ImACoolguy]

Ahhh - I didn't know that could happen... And, this might sound silly, but what does "Spain" ammonia mean? Thanks Caleb!

Thank autocorrect and early morning typing lol. Dosing ammonia is what I meant to say.


Caleb

 

[lbanner]

Haha! Got it... Keep dosing... Avoid "Spaining." (I thought that was some secret, expert aquarist term or something.)
You should see some of my swype fails... far worse than Spain. Thanks again!

 

[ScotJudd]

I check nitrites just to make sure the filter is still cycling correctly but I have never had a nitrite reading during or after cycling and nitrite is the easiest test to do so I don't think it an error on my part. I think that might be because I have always cycled a tank with seeded media from another tank.


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[Fresh2o]

While doing a fishless cycle, I detected ammonia and nitrates but never saw nitrites. I tested once a day in the evenings. I had a day off and decided to test the nitrites every 3-4 hours and I finally detected a nitrite spike. It rises and falls rather quickly IMO.


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[lbanner]

Thanks everyone! I had to go out of town for a couple of weeks, and had my daughter track the tank parameters while I was gone... I came home yesterday night and checked the numbers again - it looks like I'm completely cycled (*)!! Woohoo! pH 7.4; Am 0; Ni 0, Na 80+ (the color is darker than 80ppm, but less dark than the 160 color on the API test)...

* I just did a 90% water change, and I'm going to dose the Am back up to 1ppm and then see if the tank processes that by re-testing tomorrow. I'm so excited to move the babies to their new home, but will verify the cycle before I move/acclimate them.

Thanks for all of your help... I really appreciate it!