Confused with my water perimeters?

[mandy2936]

Hi!

OK so I've been cycling my tank for 11 (almost 12) days. I tested my water and here were my readings:

Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrite- 0
pH- 6.5-7.0
Nitrate- 20

1. Why is my Nitrate so high? On the chart, the lightest color was 0, and the second lightest 20. (so there was no in between reading) A manual that came with my tank says a normal Nitrate reading for the 1st and 2nd week is 0. So why is it so high?

2. Will just giving my tank more time to cycle help lower my Nitrate?

3. Does the same apply to Ammonia? Will time lower it to 0?

Thanks!

P.S In case it matters:
My tank is a 20g freshwater. When I'm done cycling it will house 6 Male Guppies, 7 Neon Tetra, and 4 Julii Cories. I have sand as a substrate, and all fake plants except for a bamboo stalk.

Thanks again!!

 

[krap101]

The only way to remove nitrates are to get plants, let algae grow, do a water change, or make a deep sand bed or something equivalent. On the other hand, the ammonia will eventually get converted to nitrates, so you won't have to worry about it. It's also possible that your tap water has some nitrates in it, so you should try testing that as well

Nitrates of 20 are fine, but you probably want to do a water change if they get over 40, since that might slow down your cycle. You also don't want your ammonia to get to zero while you are cycling so you're bacteria can continue to grow.

On another note, unless the bamboo is growing out of the tank, it will eventually die and cause complications.

 

[mandy2936]

Ok so I will do some water changes to keep my Nitrate level down. I can't have live plants right now.
How is having 0 Ammonia going to stop bacteria from growing? What do you mean? I thought it is good to have no Ammonia, that's toxic to fish. The whole point of cycling is to grow good bacteria that will break down the toxic waste fish produce, aka ammonia.

Anyway, once my Ammonia is down to 0 (or not if I'm wrong about the above) and I bring down my Nitrate a little, my other readings check out okay so does that mean my cycle is done Can I start adding fish?

Thanks again

 

[krap101]

Well, until you add fish, you need to keep some ammonia in the water, or the bacteria that convert the ammonia might die if it goes on long enough. Once you add fish, they will supply your ammonia, but until you get 0-0-10 or something similar (no ammonia or nitrites) you'll need to keep adding ammonia.

When you have no ammonia or nitrites, you should try adding ammonia one more time, and if it is still 0-0-whatever, then you're set and can start adding fish.

 

[mandy2936]

Adding ammonia? I started to understand but now you've lost me again.

 

[krap101]

Without adding ammonia, how are you cycling? From what I've read, it sounds like your doing fishless cycling, and since you have nitrates and some ammonia, the ammonia is getting in there somehow... Are you adding fish food? Do you have fish in there already?

 

[mfdrookie516]

read the link in my signature on fishless cycling... not sure based on your responses how you're going about it.... you have to add a source of ammonia to establish a cycle

 

[jsoong]

If you are staring out with a nitrate level, there is prob nitrates in the tap water. You should test the tap water to start & see what is in it. If there is truly nitrates, then doing a pwc will not lower it.

It does not sound like you are adding ammonia or fish. The 0.25 of ammonia is prob a false positive from the chloramines (disinfectant used in the tap water). Chances are, you are not cycling at all! Your reading looks like plain old tap water (with a dechlorinator added) to me!

Do read the articles on fishless cycling to get a better idea of the process. You need a source of ammonia to start the cycle, otherwise, you are just sitting there with a tub of water .....

 

[mandy2936]

I read the whole article, and it confused me a little, but I think the point is that I haven't been adding ammonia? So I need to add some fish food for my Ammonia levels to build up, and then...?

Thanks for the help so far! I'll update my post once I test my tap water.

UPDATE: My tap water has 0 Nitrate... is this a good or bad sign? Does this make sense?