Is My Tank Cycling? Because It Seems Odd...

[mwood2]

i know I have another topic but this is concerning me. Not an emergency but may be work a quick new topic (sorry if im not suppose to)


Ok so im in day 5-6 with my new tank. I tested 3 times today.

First (around 10AM)

Ph: 7.4
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

Did Water change around 2:30 and Tested at 2:45

Ph: 7.4-7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 20

Next I tested at 12:30 and my tests are really odd and have me worried.

Ph: 7.4-7.8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 40-160 (its all red and hard to tell which)



I plan to do an imideate water change right now but what seems odd is that arnt these sympoms of a fully cycles tank? Because it cant be that soon since I have no cycles filter media at all in here. help anyone?

 

[LauraFrog]

Okay, I'm confused. If you're cycling a tank then where is the ammonia coming from? Are you adding ammonia (fishless cycle) or are there fish in the tank (the only reason I can think of for all these water changes). If so how many and how big is the tank?

Day 5-6 with no cycled media should not be producing nitrate at all, it should be just starting to produce nitrite. Also, if you changed the water and then tested again your nitrate reading should have gone down since nitrates were present. How much water do you change at once?

Test the tap water for nitrates and give us the result. Also are you using test strips? They are notoriously inaccurate; there might be nothing wrong with the cycle at all, just the tests.

 

[mwood2]

sorry, its a fish in cycle. Its has been going on for 5-6 days only now. i have a Single Molly Fish inside. i have been doing 20-50% changes every day now. Since Day 3 I have has no Ammonia and no Nitrite but have had a fair share of Nitrate. Keep in mind I only feed the fish every other day and just as much as it can eat. I have 2 Plants inside the tank and Cycled Filter Media. This is a tank that was put together, and had a fish inside an hour after it was put togeather. So I dont think that the Nitrate levels could be this high. Im going to test my tap water for levels of Nitrate and see what that brings up. But since I just water changed let me check the tank first.


Will edit a response in a few min.

and the test are in:

PH: 7.4
Ammonia:0
Nitrite:0
Nitrate:40-80 (better i guess)


Also the change i just did was 20-40%

 

[mark.w.jones]

That nitrate test sounds wrong to me.

What test kit are you using?
Is the test kit in date?
Are you doing the test exactly as it says? (The nitrate test is one of the harder ones to do and often has the least accurate results, especially if you don't follow instructions to a tee).
Ideally your nitrate should be less than 50ppm. In an established and well planted tank like mine it is more often than not 50ppm.

 

[mwood2]

will do the test one more time and make sure I follow test the best I can (I think im doing it right, back to the manual).


Will post the Nitrate again in a few min.

and again, Tested.

Followed all the instruction and for 40-80 again. Even had my dad check it to get his opinion. Its kinda odd to me that it would be this high.

As for the test kit is API Saltwater test Kit. Was i suppose to get a Freshwater? I have a Molly (still really new to all this...)