Unsure of Cycle status at this point.

[AgnosticFlower]

14 gal Tank has been cycling since June 18th and from July 8th to the 15th the ammonia levels have been 0ppm or 0.25ppm despite me dropping the right amount for the tank size and I had to do a mini water change on the 17th due to the nitrites being a bit too high and I didn't want it killing off the nitrates and checked the levels after a day since reading that it needed to stabilize after a water change and Ammonia was 1.0ppm, Nitrite 1.0ppm and Nitrates 40ppm which I found strange since Nitrates was constantly 160ppm for the past week and a half before the water change.

I just checked a few minutes ago and everything is 0ppm even the ammonia which I actually doubled yesterday just to see if anything showed up and it still says 0ppm. PH levels are 7.0 so it can't be that and I have the heater and water filter running.

Can anyone try to explain what is going on? I haven't touched the substrate or plants in the tank either.

 

[Aiken Drum]

How are you cycling the tank?

Fish in cycle or fishless?

If fishless, what is the source of your ammonia?

Im not really sure what you think is the problem.

 

[AgnosticFlower]

it's fishless and im using dr.tims ammonia.

I'm just confused about the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates all being at 0ppm after the mini water change since when I would do those when needed the nitrites and nitrates would still show up when I tested the water using the API freshwater master kit test.

 

[Aiken Drum]

Ammonia being 0 could just be your cycle establishing. I dont see a small water change being a cause for nitrite and nitrate suddenly dropping from high levels to 0 though. Only explanation i can think of is something wrong with your test, either the one you are doing now or your previous test. Perhaps some contaminants in the tube? Maybe get a second opinion on your water, local fish stores usually do water tests, some even do it for free. Or buy a different test, maybe some strips to see what they show.

Why are you doing water changes during a fishless cycle? I normally change water to keep parameters on the test chart, but thats just my preference. Nitrite wont kill off nitrate. I dont understand what you mean by that.