Cycled?

[Chewie Pig]

Hi, I'm a bit confused.

I'll start from the beginning. Basically my mom got bored of keeping goldfish and has given me her baby BiOrb, in which I plan to keep a single betta. So I've filled the tank, added a 25w heater and had the filter running for about two weeks, whilst waiting for my water testing kits to arrive to start cycling.

Being new to fish, I've been treating it like a completely new tank, but my water testing kits arrived this morning and after testing the water the results were as followed:
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 25
I haven't added anything to the water, not even dechlorinator, so I expected everything to be 0, all the guides on the net to fish-less cycling seem to assume the tank is brand new and there are no current sources of bacteria, but as I didn't add dechlorinator, wouldn't the chlorine have killed the bacteria off?
I think that the bacteria left in the substrate and the filter have been at work and have been cycling the tank for me, or the nitrate could just be the tap water. But I don't know, should I keep monitoring the levels and adding ammonia like I would normally if cycling the tank?

Thanks in advance =]

 

[KittyKat]

There is nitrate in tap water, that is where it came from. The chlorine and chloramine probably did kill off any bacteria you had in the tank, but both dissipate after one weeks, so there is none left in there now.

I suggest you treat the tank as uncycled and start adding ammonia, using your kit to test the water.

 

[Chewie Pig]

There is nitrate in tap water, that is where it came from. The chlorine and chloramine probably did kill off any bacteria you had in the tank, but both dissipate after one weeks, so there is none left in there now.

I suggest you treat the tank as uncycled and start adding ammonia, using your kit to test the water.

okay will do =]
Thanks for the advice

 

[waterdrop]

Can't help but wonder what happened to the goldfish?

 

[Chewie Pig]

Can't help but wonder what happened to the goldfish?

>.< they were given to a friend with a bigger tank, there were three fantails and the biOrb was way too small for them, but that's my mom for you she listened to the people at pets at home, didn't cycle and overstocked the tank, she just didn't know any better and neither did I till I started googling . . .