Issues with cycling

[Jwgoff7772]

•Day 22 of fish in cycle

•40G breeder with 1 pearl gourami and 9 corydoras. The gourami is half grown, 2 of the cories are full grown, the other 6 are 1 inch long.

•Filtration and surface area: Aqua clear 50 with pre filter sponge, regular sponge at bottom and bio media for the rest. Carib Sea sand substrate. Lots of surface area with decor. 3 medium size rocks and medium size mopani wood.

•Parameters
Yesterday 04/12
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .50
Nitrates: 10ppm
Ph: 7
Kh: 1-2
Gh: 6

Today 04/13
Ammonia: .25-.50
Nitrite: 0
Nitrates: 10ppm
Ph: 7
Kh: 1-2
Gh:6

•Chemicals used: Prime everyday at 2x dose and used stability the first 10days.
•Only have done 10% water changes every 2 days to try and reduce stress. Only vac the surface when I see build up of fish waste. My cories pick extra food but feedings have been minimal. Every other day and when I feed its small amounts at a time
• my tank went through the normal cycle phase of a buildup of ammonia up to 1ppm, then I saw a drop in ammonia in a rise and nitrite which got up to .50 PPM and then saw a rise in nitrates but if you see my parameters up top there was a strange shift almost as if I went backwards but still showing nitrates. Any idea what I got going on here? Any help is much appreciated

 

[FishGuest5123]

Your nitrites should have climbed much higher than they did. Did you move over any cycled media or anything?

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Yes I forgot to add that part in but yes I took off the outer sponge of my old carbon insert that i had in a cycled 10 gallon md put it in my aqua clear and i also moved over decor from the cycled 10 gallon so some seeding did take place but didnt have much

 

[Jwgoff7772]

I'm using API master test kit, tetra 6 in1 test strips and I also have a seachem combo alert hanging in the tank to test for free ammonia which had read 0 the whole time. I also check the parameters twice a day with both the api master and test strips, once in the morning and once at night. I already had the tetra test strips for when I had just the 10 gallon and bought the api master kit and the sea chem alert when I bought the 40 gallon but I've been liking to compare results from the tetra strips and api master since they are two different companies. The nitrites and nitrates are pretty close to each other when comparing

 

[FishGuest5123]

Ok. That makes more sense as to why the nitrites didn’t climb so high. Your ammonia reading appears to be ammonium since you are not registering any free ammonia. If that’s the case it looks like you are cycled. Keep testing and watch it.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Thank you very much but would the prime detox the free ammonia so even if I had a cycle still going on would the prime hide it? or is it the fact I had nitrite, have nitrate mean that my cycle is over? should I not use the prime for 48hrs to see if I get a free ammonia reading? Thank you for taking the time to look at my situation.

 

[FishGuest5123]

The ammonia will still read with Prime. It doesn’t get rid of it, only binds it for 24-32 hrs to make it safe. API Test Kit only measures total ammonia. If you want to measure free ammonia then I recommend the Seachem Multi Test Ammonia (Free and Total) kit.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Understood, again thank you very much I appreciate your time and also for responding so quickly

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Sorry I've got one more question but am I always going to see some kind of an ammonia reading in the future on my API Master test kit even if it's just the ammonium? Because since I am registering some kind of ammonia on my master test kit I just want to be able to make sure I can go forward with my normal water changes and cleaning duties. Because I was looking for that lemon yellow color that says 0 ammonia on my test kit. But will it ever say zero on a cycled tank? I'm obviously still going to be checking my parameters everyday probably for the next couple weeks but I'm just curious about the ammonium reading in it and if I'm going to always be seen a small ammonia reading and also what readings would you be looking for on the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate?

 

[FishGuest5123]

I always had 0 ammonia readings until about 6 months ago when my city started using chloramine in our city water. Still confused as to why this occurred, but now I always register .25ppm ammonia in all my tanks. I was going nuts until a friend explained the difference in free ammonia and ammonium. She suggested I get the ammonia alerts for my tanks and the Seachem Multi Test Ammonia Kit. Once I had confirmation that I was dealing with ammonium, I continued to clean and do water changes as I always had. I just also test frequently for free ammonia too. Enclosed is a clip I share to explain how PH effects ammonia and ammonium and safe levels. It does a much better job than I could ever attempt to do. Hope this helps.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Now I'm lost. I just got home and tested my water and now have .25 nitrites again, it read 0 yesterday and this morning. Is there a reason for it going back and forth? I tested twice this morning and read 0 both times

 

[Jwgoff7772]

I think I may have a faulty test kit I'm going to send pictures of my results in a moment, I'm getting a 0 nitrite and a .25 nitrite reading in a span of 5 min

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Here are my results
There are 2 nitrite readings and 1 nitrate.
They were taken back to back
1 nitrite says 0 and the other .25 .50
The nitrate always stays the same

 

[FishGuest5123]

Are you shaking the bottles and the tubes like you‘re suppose to? If so, you may want to try another kit.

 

[Jwgoff7772]

Yes, im following instructions perfectly and I perform the test exactly the same way every time, I went and exchanged for another that had different lot number, I've tested it atleast 10 times now and I've only got readings of 0, haven't been able to replicate another positive. All the other parameters that the master test kit test were extremely consistent. Maybe I got a dud in the nitrite part of the test. Again I'm extremely grateful for all you input.