Ammonia Issues?

[DigiriblePlum]

Hi All

My 40L tank's been cycling for closing in on the two-month mark now and I'm having issues with the ammonia levels that seem weird to me ... then again, I'm a complete novice!

I can't seem to get the ammonia levels down below 0.25ppm. The nitrites are, however, sitting at 0ppm and the nitrates at about 20ppm. When I first saw this I thought it was just a hitch in the cycle and, sure enough, next time I checked the nitrites were back again but today, about 4 days after that test, it's back to 0.25-0-20

Is this just part of the cycle or has something gone wrong here?

 

[Hayleyy]

Nitrites at 0 and nitrates at 20 is perfect. Do some small water changes, like 20% twice and week and see if that bring down ammonia. Have you checked the tank for the source of the ammonia?

 

[landonewts]

What are you using to treat the water, and to test it? I use Seachem Prime to dechlorinate, and while it's a great treatment, it can also give a false free ammonia reading. I was using the API kit to test for ammonia, among other things, and always got a readiong of .25 - .50 (Heck, even my plain tap water tests positive for overall ammonia with the API kit.) I now use the Seachem ammonia test to check free ammonia, and it works really well. I use the API kit for everything else.

Just something to try.