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Help! My nitrites are spiking (majorly!) but I STILL have ammonia in the tank! What does this even mean?!

Three weeks in and ammonia is still hanging tight at .25ppm. I haven't changed the water in over a week. Shouldn't I have more ammonia than this if the bacteria aren't there yet? I'm probably just being impatient..

Thanks guys! (:

Aye aye! (:

All thanks to you!

Wow! That's cool. You learn something new every day(: I'll add the salt tomorrow, keep testing over and over again, and I'll change the water when ammonia/nitrites get above 1.0ppm! I'll update when my ammonia zeroes out! (:

I can totally manage that. Between normal table salt and kosher sea salt, which would you think is more preferable? And I need to dissolve the salt in conditioned water before adding it, right? And just for giggles.. What will the salt do? I'm sure it's a really complicated thing that is over...

Can do! (:

Fantastic! And since I am getting nitrites already as well, I should do a water change if that gets above .5, regardless of the ammonia level?

Wow! Thank you very much! Just a few questions/concerns/comments.. I thought that the bacteria needed preferred warmer temps? I'm totally fine with lowering the temperature, just curious(: As is right now, I've been doing about a 30% water change every day, or every other day, in order to...

The heater is set at 80, but the water is closer to 82 (F). Haha, no worries, I trust that you have a point!

About 7.8(:

I understand(; there's tons of fairly-priced mini heaters out there! Good luck!

Oh don't worry, I'm not going to neglect the fish! Haha I'll be monitoring his water very closely. I'm just putting this "cycle" to the test!

It's just a cheapo Aqueon 10 watt mini heater. From what I've read (since purchasing) they really aren't the highest quality, and a bunch of them come out of the package not working.. However, I guess I'm a lucky gal, because mines always worked great.

Alright folks.. So earlier update than planned. As Sheilashoelady knows from my thread about my 29 gallon, my tap water has an ammonia reading of .25ppm. When I compare my tap (.25), to bottled water (0), my 2.5 gallon tank is definitely at 0ppm. So something is going on here, and I suspect...

I compared it to bottled water.. And Unless my mind is playing tricks on me, my tap ammonia is .25ppm. How does that affect my cycle process? Sorry I'm posting so much! Haha it's pretty much my entire thought process..

My dream is to have a saltwater some day(: they are just so much more expensive to start up.. However the fish/overall appearance is much more exotic and absolutely gorgeous, in my opinion. And expensive. Very expensive. As for what to do.. I'm stumped. I vote you just start looking up random...

I'm back! I tested my tap water that sat out for 24+ hours.. Ammonia: 0-.25? (Read below) Nitrite: 0 Nitrate:0 So.. Ammonia. what would you say this is? First photo with flash, second photo without, under incandescent lighting.

Great! Today I had a harder time trying to tell if the ammonia test was leaning more towards green or yellow.. Maybe it's wishful thinking, but it seems like I may be getting closer(:

Will do!

Interesting. Tomorrow would be my normal PWC day, but I'm going to leave the water alone and continue to watch the water levels. I'll check back in on Wednesday (my other water change day) if you guys are interested(:

More like a workout! Haha

Yes ma'am, API Freshwater Master test kit. And no worries about Nitrate bottle #2, I beat the ever lovin' snot out of that thing.

Hm. I'm going to monitor the water for a week and see what the water parameters do with no water changes. I'm curious(: