Do these parameters make sense for day 2 of a seeded, fishless cycle?

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catphish

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Hello everyone,

I am doing my first fishless cycle using ammonia and have a question about whether or not the parameters I am getting make sense.

So I set everything up yesterday afternoon and added a sponge filter and a filter sponge (and a bunch of plant cuttings) from my established tank and then added around 3.5 ml of pure ammonia to start the cycle.

The parameters yesterday were 0ppm for nitrite and between 3 and 4ppm for ammonia and ph of 7.8 (didn't test nitrates because figured it would be too early)

Today, I went to test my ammonia again today to make sure it didn't spike or drop in 24 hours (even though the how too says do nothing lol) but the parameters I got back were a little surprising, maybe?

ammonia 1.5ppm, nitrites .25ppm, nitrates 5ppm and ph dropped a bit to ph 7.4.

Temp has been 80 to 82 degrees - trying to get these to stabilize around 78-80

Am I on the right track? Is the appearance of both nitrates and nitrites normal because my tank is seeded? Anything more I should do? When do I do my first water change?
 
That’s an excellent start, the seeded sponge and plants from the other tank has helped this cycle a lot.

Seeded media is one of the fastest ways of cycling a tank, can take anything from 2 days to a week to fully cycle the tank!

Test every day, soon as you see ammonia below 0.75ppm and nitrite at or above 2ppm, time for next dose of ammonia.

Bacteria colony tends to double in numbers ever 24 hours. Your tank has already done 2ppm of ammonia in less than 48 hours! Conversing that not nitrite and nitrate which you’ve got a reading of already, though that nitrate could have come from tap water but got a feeling it’s from the bb.

Test again tomorrow and see what the readings are, if ammonia goes done, nitrite and nitrate gone up, you’re well on the way!

Btw best to do tests at the same time every day to have consistent readings timescale.
 
That’s an excellent start, the seeded sponge and plants from the other tank has helped this cycle a lot.

Seeded media is one of the fastest ways of cycling a tank, can take anything from 2 days to a week to fully cycle the tank!

Test every day, soon as you see ammonia below 0.75ppm and nitrite at or above 2ppm, time for next dose of ammonia.

Bacteria colony tends to double in numbers ever 24 hours. Your tank has already done 2ppm of ammonia in less than 48 hours! Conversing that not nitrite and nitrate which you’ve got a reading of already, though that nitrate could have come from tap water but got a feeling it’s from the bb.

Test again tomorrow and see what the readings are, if ammonia goes done, nitrite and nitrate gone up, you’re well on the way!

Btw best to do tests at the same time every day to have consistent readings timescale.

Yeah I am trying not to be too eager with the tank and do it the "rightway" because I definite rushed my first build a couple years ago thank you for the advice and info!
 

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