Fish in cycle

[desteva2]

Question about fish in cycle ( I know is def not preferred but I got bad info given ) ... been trying to cycle the tank since March 18... got my first ammonia reading last week and I started dosing with prime once a day then got a spike of nitrite this week and I have done two water change and kept dosing with prime and added api quick start ... ammonia and nitrite looks good today but still not nitrates ... my question is do I keep dosing with prime daily now until I see nitrates ? Also my tank started to look cloudy and I got some brown ,I’m assuming algae , on the decorations should I clean that ? I heard you can scrub it with tank water and that would be okay to do but I want to know if is safe to do . I haven’t touch my filter or clean it. This are the readings of my test , my last test forgot to take a picture . I would appreciate any recommendation or orientation what should I be doing now . Thanks !

 

[Colin_T]

When you do a fish in cycle, you feed the fish a couple of times a week, and do a 75% water change and gravel clean the substrate 4-8 hours after feeding them.
Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

You should also do a 75% water change any day you have an ammonia or nitrite reading above 0ppm, or a nitrate reading above 20ppm.

Don't bother testing for nitrates until after the tank has cycled. Nitrate test kits read nitrite as nitrate and give you a false reading if there is nitrite in the water.

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The brown stuff on the glass/ ornaments is probably algae. Just use a clean sponge to wipe it off. Make sure the sponge has not been used for anything and is soap free. Keep the sponge for the fish tank and don't let anyone use it for anything except the aquarium.