cycling going crazy

[billy_69]

heres my problem.
My wife surprised me ten days ago with a ten gal tank, she set it all up it has three danios and two serpa tetras. she chloranated the water and added some sort of bacteria that suppose to iliminate cycling (brand aqua clear). I know from all u helpful people that these products dont ususally work. so i started to test for the cycle and this is how ts going

2nd day A 0.0 nitrite 0.0 nitrate 0.0
3rd 0.0 0.0 0.0
4th 0.0 0.0 0.0
5th 0.0 0.0 0.0
6th 0.5 0.0 0.0 did a 30% water change
7th 0.0 0.0 0.0
8th 0.0 0.0 0.0
9th 0.0 0.0 ?? seen a slight change
10th 0.0 0.0 5.0

i cant figure out why my ammonia & Nitrite didnt really spike and how the nitrate went up. i anyone can help me understand this please.

thank you
Billy

 

[The-Raven]

Adding bacteria doesn't eliminate cycling, it could speed it up, and if you added it before there was any ammonia, they all died anyway.

I couldn't tell you why your ammonia and nitrites are still at zero... but a two day jump from 0 to 5.0 in nitrates is odd...

No offense, but are you sure you're doing the tests right?

 

[billy_69]

i followed the directions religously, I even had a stop watch to check the times and ran the nitrate one twice because it didnt look right. The stuff (bacteria) she had told her to add it before the fish??? i cant remember the brand i think it might of been tetra. One thing i did notice is if i let the test run past the five minutes they still changed i just figured they always did that, i took my reading at the five minute mark. I have a Pro test kit from agua Pharmisuticals (i know i spelled that wronug ) and use the tubes with the droppers.

 

[black angel]

if its any help when i cycled my 34 gallon using the same product i never saw anything in the way of ammonia or nitrite at all and after 6 weeks all i had was nitrate. i found it very confusing and now my tank is 6 months old and i am still waiting for the ammonia spike
i'm not saying you wont get an ammonia spike just be aware it may not happen, but keep testing your water anyway for a few weeks just in case. maybe i blinked and missed it, who knows

have you tested your tap water to see what the reading is for nitrate? dont test straight from the tap, use a cup or glass.

 

[pendragon]

Your tank is cycled when - and only when - these three criteria are met. No exceptions!

1. Ammonia is zero, and stays there, and

2. Nitrite is zero, and stays there, and

3. Nitrate is present, and increases steadily with time.

When your tank meets all three criteria and meets them every day for five days, you may assume you are cycled. If it doesn't meet these criteria yet, here is exactly what you must do: have patience! The tank *will* come to equilibrium in nature's time. You just have to wait it out.

pendragon!