Tank Cycling Weird

Yes, another post!

I'm in the process of setting up/cycling my tank. I started out with just a betta fish in my 20gallon long. He was in there maybe....10 days before I finally got the filter running and I now have plants in there.

My problem is that....my numbers seem to be the same as before I had the filter.

I'm thinking my sand may have come in with beneficial bacteria already in it (though I rinsed it a few times before putting that in the tank, so I'm not sure how much I may have rinsed out if that's the case). It was CaribSea Super Naturals Moonlight Sand.

Anyway, the readings for the last few days have been as follows (I've omitted Ph because it seems to be consistent at 7.4):

4/24:
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (it was kind of a golden yellow)

4/25:
Ammonia: .25-.5
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (again golden yellow)

4/26:
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5

4/27:
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0-5 (this time it appears to be closer to yellow, or 0)

What's going on?! I haven't done any water changes, I've added some decor and live plants, but that's it. I suppose I could just be reading the tests wrong, but I tested my friend's tank with the same kit the other day and hers had clear higher readings (so the kit WORKS). Should I try adding a fish that puts out more waste or did I just get a magical tank that's stable?

Have you tested your tap water to see if it already has traces of nitrates in?

I haven't tested my tap water, but that's probably the case :/.

I think I'll try adding too much fish food...though I'm wondering if I can try to "teabag" it in with a net so it doesn't go all over the place and become impossible to clean up....

It'll take a long time to cycle a tank that large with one betta; they don't have much bioload. I'm not surprised at your numbers. Your sand definitely didn't come 'live' if it was bagged.

Keep at it. Putting your ammonia source in a mesh bag would be fine.

I'm going to put my betta back in his normal tank before polluting the water, I like him too much to do that to him I may try to look into the pure ammonia this week if it's still not shooting up, but I'm going to dump a ton of food just to get this thing started.

Yey save the fishy! heres the website i found useful
The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community

I bought some 'kleen off pure ammonia' from ebay for like £1 and it literally takes 2-3 drop to get the ammonia right up :happy:

Right now I have a net full of fish food floating in the tank since I can't get out to do shopping until Wednesday (my work week is very strange).

I tested the ammonia this morning since the tank is REALLY cloudy and it was still only .25-.5, but the nitrite is now creeping closer to .25. Just so so so much slower than I expected, so I'll probably be picking up some ammonia from the hardware store when I get a chance :/

just pee in the tank it's free. Not a lot just a little squirt or two

Would that actually work?

Yes. I don't know anyone that has done it for a freshwater tank but I know people that start large saltwater set ups like that. Don't use any from a female on birth control though. Your newts or fish don't need the added hormones. It can actually turn male fish into female fish. A 20 gallon tank would only need 10-20 drops worth to start the process. Don't worry urine is sterile and only picks up dangerous bacteria if the person has a UTI or kidney infections and the little bit that you use to cycle a tank will not stink up the house.

Haha, yeah...i never tried that!
i suppose its free though

Ok, now I'm confused. I thought you wanted nitrates, nitrite, and ammonia to be at zero?

I don't have a ammonia test at this time.
But my nitrate is around 20
Nitrite is 0

I have well water. I have had a fresh water tank before ( for about 3 years ) and have never cycled a tank before. I just filled it up, got the temp where I wanted, and added fish. I never had a problem. Feed them normally, and life went on. I took the tank down because I started working nights and was tried all of the time. So keeping up with it became an issue. Not working at all now, and loving it. Until I joined this site I didn't even know there where test strips. Now I'm panicking thinking I will do something wrong if I don't test this, or that is x amount off and will kill an axolotl when I get one. It's all starting to feel like over kill.

Basheta said:

Ok, now I'm confused. I thought you wanted nitrates, nitrite, and ammonia to be at zero?

I don't have a ammonia test at this time.
But my nitrate is around 20
Nitrite is 0

I have well water. I have had a fresh water tank before ( for about 3 years ) and have never cycled a tank before. I just filled it up, got the temp where I wanted, and added fish. I never had a problem. Feed them normally, and life went on. I took the tank down because I started working nights and was tried all of the time. So keeping up with it became an issue. Not working at all now, and loving it. Until I joined this site I didn't even know there where test strips. Now I'm panicking thinking I will do something wrong if I don't test this, or that is x amount off and will kill an axolotl when I get one. It's all starting to feel like over kill.

Click to expand...

It's Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate

You want ammonia and nitrite to be 0. NitrAte is the end product so that should have a reading, ideally under 40 ppm. If your ammonia is 0 then your tank will be done cycling.
I'd recommend using a liquid test kit, test strips have been proven to be inaccurate.

snuggly time said:

It's Ammonia > Nitrite > Nitrate

You want ammonia and nitrite to be 0. NitrAte is the end product so that should have a reading, ideally under 40 ppm. If your ammonia is 0 then your tank will be done cycling.
I'd recommend using a liquid test kit, test strips have been proven to be inaccurate.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I actually have a thing that stays in the tank to let me know if it spikes. I have put it in yet, I'm waiting to get my sand in and the water to calm down. I got the play sand as recommend, it has gravel mixed in it. So I have been sifting it to clean out the rocks. Once I get that done then I will check the ammonia.

I must admit when i first learnt about cycling i felt totally confused and i just didnt get it at all!
Now i go with the theory that you just add a little ammonia each day and thats it, leave it to do its thing.
It takes weeks anyway so just top up a little ammonia everyday, then after say, 4 week, get your liquid test kit out and test the water.
If its anything other than
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
NitrAtes - <40 (will be higher but a partial water change is needed to bring it down)

Once you have that, stop adding ammonia, plop your axies in and do around about 20% weekly water changes

So after testing again this morning and yesterday morning my ammonia is STILL only at .25-.5 despite dumping about 1/8 of a cup of food into the tank. Should I be changing out the food every morning or will that not matter?

I still plan to try to find ammonia tomorrow afternoon, but it's frustrating that I can't seem to get the waste in my tank to want to increase.

And I still am on the fence about throwing pee in there

No, you need to leave it in there becuase when it starts to rot it will produce ammonia, if you change it everyday, it wont go bad and add ammonia
Did you glance over the link i posted further up?

layna said:

I must admit when i first learnt about cycling i felt totally confused and i just didnt get it at all!
Now i go with the theory that you just add a little ammonia each day and thats it, leave it to do its thing.
It takes weeks anyway so just top up a little ammonia everyday, then after say, 4 week, get your liquid test kit out and test the water.
If its anything other than
Ammonia - 0
Nitrites - 0
NitrAtes - <40 (will be higher but a partial water change is needed to bring it down)

Once you have that, stop adding ammonia, plop your axies in and do around about 20% weekly water changes

Click to expand...

I'm getting there slowly. I think it's harder to do with well water.