Hello from Colorado! Someone help! Cycling 20 gal tank

[Michelle303]

Hi everyone, I am new to cycling. My boyfriend just cycled his 55 gal so he knows a little. But anyways I have been researching about axolotls and decided I really wanted one so I went out and bought a 20 gal tank. Water and tetra safe start has been in since 2/25/17. I have been putting in fish food about every other day for ammonia and recently put two feeder fish in. I have been testing everyday and my water has about 1.0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 20-40 nitrate. So I did some reading and people say to test the tap water so I did and everything comes out 0. My question is how did I jump to nitrates with no nitrites and hardly any ammonia? Should I do a water change? My temp is at 60 degrees. Should I make it warmer?

 

[54seaweed]

welcome to the forum you will find all the answers your looking for
this article can help you better understand the cycling process .
Guide to Starting a Freshwater Aquarium - Aquarium Advice
if you go down to the freshwater section we have a getting started forum they can prob answer almost all your questions,

 

[Yorg]

Hi everyone, I am new to cycling. My boyfriend just cycled his 55 gal so he knows a little. But anyways I have been researching about axolotls and decided I really wanted one so I went out and bought a 20 gal tank. Water and tetra safe start has been in since 2/25/17. I have been putting in fish food about every other day for ammonia and recently put two feeder fish in. I have been testing everyday and my water has about 1.0 ammonia, 0 nitrite and 20-40 nitrate. So I did some reading and people say to test the tap water so I did and everything comes out 0. My question is how did I jump to nitrates with no nitrites and hardly any ammonia? Should I do a water change? My temp is at 60 degrees. Should I make it warmer?

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Hi Michelle303:

Yes, sometimes when you use a bacterial additive like SafeStart your nitrite spike happens so fast that you miss it. Your nitrate readings confirm, though, that you have nitrite-oxidizing bacteria at work, so your cycle seems to be doing well. The ammonia-oxidizing bacteria just need to catch up. It would be helpful if you could raise the temperature a bit; the bacteria seem to grow more quickly when the water is a bit warmer. As soon as your ammonia zeros out, and your nitrite remains steadily at zero, you should have a cycled tank.

 

[Michelle303]

Thank you Yorg! I will try adding some warmer water