Cycle questions, where am I?

[soh15]

Ok, I guess I did what too many newbies do. Got too many fish too quick. I have had it up for 4 weeks now, ran it for 1 week without fish. No fish have died yet. I did have Ich for a week, but cured with salt, and 88F. Also had fry on about week 2, which are in a 2.5 gal, no deaths. Just got test stripes yesterday and NITRATE was at 20 ppm, or showing (safe) on the strip container map. NITRITE is 10.0ppm, or (toxic) on the strip container map. Insert said to get AMMO LOCK to get ammonia levels down, But I have no idea what level ammonia levels are because I have no test for it, but figure it is high, and test strip info said to use Marplex or AMMO LOCK to lower levels. Now I figure I am in the later stages of the cycle because I have high NITRITE, and starting to show NITRATE levels. I have been doing 30% to 40% PWC about every other day, but did one yesterday and today based on the new info from the tests. I did add AMMO LOCK hoping it will help during the water changes. Guess my question is what would you do now? Should I keep doing water changes? Or stop and let things calm down? Any answer would be great

 

[An t-iasg]

As discussed in your other thread, don't add any more Ammo-lock! An ammonia test is always good to have. Since the nitrites are high, your ammonia spike is probably over, but it's still a very good idea to get a test kit to make sure.

Strip kits are not that reliable. On my test-tube nitrite kit, the highest reading is 5.0. I've never even heard of having a 10.0 result. Do you maybe mean 1.0? Also, with high nitrites, I wouldn't trust that nitrate reading yet.

Keep doing your water changes every day until the nitrites are 0. Then do a nitrate test, and your result should be about 20-40 ppm or lower than 20 ppm if you have live plants.

Here's an article on cycling in our articles section: http://www.aquariumadvice.com/showquestion.php?faq=2&fldAuto=21