My cycle is acting weird. Someone help?

[cvcdrk]

Alright so everything was going well, I saw my ammonia spike then I saw my nitrites spike. Figured on another week or two.

I tested today and this is what I got:

Ammonia: .50ppm
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 80ppm

What's going on? By all logic if my nitrates are that high and I have no nitrites I should be at or close to the end of my cycle....but why am I still getting ammonia readings? I tested twice to be sure. Why aren't my bacteria turning that into nitrites like they're supposed to (and were doing).

Also, with nitrates that high (literally happened in two days haha) should I do a water change now or just wait it out for a few more days.

 

[Smitty]

If the tank is empty, I'd give it a few more days to finish the cycle, but if you've already put livestock in there, then go ahead and do a water change. Are you using tap water or ro/di water for your tank? You also may have a bad test kit that's giving you false readings. You should take a sample of your water to the lfs and have them to check it for you.

 

[little_fish]

+1 Smitty

 

[cvcdrk]

Petco is my LFS. I trust them less than I trust just tasting the water to get the parameters. lol

Anyway, I'm using RO water I buy at Walmart. I do not have the necessary skills, time, or ability to instal an RODI filter in my apartment. The landlord would murder me. So I buy water from Walmart that has been treated by Reverse Osmosis.

The test kit seems ok to me. It seemed ok before. The tank is not stocked. There is nothing alive in there at the moment.

 

[little_fish]

try testing your newly made saltwater, that should have no ammonia

 

[cvcdrk]

Im going to stop on my way home as i need to stock up on RO water anyway and i need another 5gal bucket. Ill mix up a little bit of salt water tonight and test for ammonia just to see if it registers and i will update this topic tonight with updated water parameters.

 

[cvcdrk]

Ok so I got home and tested quickly and got more normal readings. I got .25ppm; .25ppm; and 60ppm.

So things just look like the cycle is in progress and I caught the testing at an odd time tonight.

My lights got delivered to my apt's front office...so now I have to wait until monday to get them...sucks.

 

[RockStacker]

Water straight out of the tap at my place reads 0.5ppm ammonia. They said this is because of the chloramine from the municipal water treatment.

I have been using water detox stuff (like Ammo-Lock) to address that until I get my RODI running (with chloramine filters).

That could the the same issue you are having.

Go to your water supplier's website and look for the water quality report. They usually post an annual or quarterly report.

 

[cvcdrk]

I buy water from Walmart that's been RO'd.

This problem corrected itself. It was merely a hiccup at the end of the cycle. The tank is now well established.

You shouldn't use that tap water even for the time being. Walmart sells RO water for $.83 a gallon here and a lot of LFS's will sell it for like $.50 per gallon. Well worth the money.

The phosphates alone from all the fertilizer used around here would grow a tank full of thick brown algae. >_>