Pictures are probably bad... My apologies.
Day 12 of a fishless cycle. First time cycling. Been following the almost complete guide. It's a 5g tank that's planted. Some sword bunched up, dwarf grass, and marimo moss stringed to a large piece of drift. I have estes and national geo sand along with seachen fluorite as the substrate. I have an airstone inside.
PH of th tank is definitely 8.2 PH of tap is 7.4. And that's been consistent every time I tested.
NitrItes showed up on day 7. I think(?) Nitr8tes maybe showed up on 10. But it's definitely not even 5, yet. Just doesn't look like 0 either. Day 10, 11, and 12 nitr8te testing has looked like the color shown above. Hasn't increased at all.
The previous three days I have been dosing ammo to 4 ppm each morning and in less than 24 hours it's back down between to 0-.25. Previously it took about 32 hours. NitrItes I believe are off the chart. 2 and 5 look so similar to me... Nitr8tes haven't risen at all. I'm not even sure it's not 0, other than the fact that it's a little darker than the 0 ammo tube testing. And, yes, I shake the crap out of the nitr8tes api testing tube. 40 seconds #1 and 1:10 on #2 with a timer runner.
I'm not sure what I'm supposed to be doing now. Any help? Thanks!