Really confused

[Silthrim]

So I decided not to touch my tank to see what would happen. Ammonia test still shows the same thing, .25ppm. It never goes up or goes down. I've never seen a yellow ammonia test. Nitrite is always reading 0. After one day, nitrates are still around 10ppm. I'm so confused. If I was cycled, ammoni should be 0 but if I wasn't cycled, ammonia should be shooting up, not just staying the same.

The tank has been running just short of three weeks. I started the tank with two bottles of Tetra SafeStart.

29g

1 baby angelfish
1 peppered Cory
4 red wag Platys
4 zebra danios
1 male betta (extremely well behaved)

No signs of stress

 

[absolutangel04]

Some tap water has ammonia in it. .25 ammo doesn't mean you aren't cycled. It's totally fine. It's not toxic to the fish.

 

[Silthrim]

Ok cool, so if I change my water and add Prime but I read .25 ammonia it's ok? I think I'm cycled to be honest. Shouldn't that .25ppm of ammonia still be consumed by the bacteria and eventually become zero? It's been two days since I've done a water change and my ammonia test is still slightly green.

 

[librarygirl]

Yes, usually if you have ammonia in your tap it will go to 0 as the bacteria processes it. Are you using the API kit? When I first started I had a heck of a time reading the ammonia test and for a while I thought I had a constant .25 when I really had 0. To check, test some spring or distilled water and then compare the tube with the tank test tube. If they match, the tank is really 0. Sometimes in certain lighting the tube can look slightly greenish even if it's really yellow. Standing in front of a window or having a good source of light behind you while you hold the test tube against the card can help.

I wouldn't worry about nitrate too much either, they can rise pretty slowly. If your tap doesn't have nitrate in it then it's a good bet that the ammoia is being processed into nitrate. You may have skipped the nitrite phase (the safe start has worked for some in the past, but not for others, so you might be one of the lucky ones) but I'd keep testing for at least another couple of weeks just to make sure they don't come up on you.

 

[Silthrim]

Yep I'm using the API master kit. It always looks slightly green. I tested pure spring water and my tank water was slightly greener. It's so hard to tell. Because I used safestart (2 bottles) and my levels haven't changed at all (except nitrate), that's what makes me think I'm cycled even though my stupid ammonia test shows ever so slightly green.