Question - new tank cycle

[sands]

Are my bacteria dying off??

I'm on day 20 with my 10 gallon tank. I used the cooked shrimp method of fishless cycling, and I'm almost there, I think.

Right now, my ammonia is 0, nitrites are .25 and nitrates are 5.0.

I guess my question is, why are my nitrates so low? Or are they?
I was expecting them to be much higher at the end of cycling, but they seem to be falling off, as yesterday they were at 10.0.
Also, how much water should I change out at the end of the cycle, and what is the ideal nitrate reading when I add in my fish?

Thanks!
sands

P.S. I'm using the Aquarium Pharmaceuticals test kit.

Also, should I be adding ammonia or something ? I took the shrimp out when the ammonia reached 4.0, and haven't added anything since. If the tank has had no new ammonia, what will happen when I add the fish and the tank gets flooded with ammonia.

 

[wataugachicken]

i think you should throw in another small piece of shrimp in order to get some ammonia in there. raw is better than cooked if you have it. once your nitrites are at 0, take it out, wait a couple days, then do a big water change - whatever it takes to bring the nitrates below 20. have you done any small water changes or did the nitrates drop from 10 to 5 on their own? do you have any plants or a lot of algae in the tank? those will use the nitrates as a food source.

 

[sands]

Thanks, wataugachicken!

yes, the nitrates apparently dropped on their own, - no plants or water changes. I didn't think that was possible, which is why I was worried that the bacteria may be starving. So I freaked & I added two drops of clear ammonia (didn't think of adding another shrimp before I saw your post) which tested at.50, and then tested several hours later and the ammonia was almost not registering, which should mean the bacteria are working, right? I thought I'd keep adding a couple drops of ammonia daily and hopefully the nitrites will drop to 0, then do a water change. Should this work the same way a shrimp would? I'm aftaid that at this point, adding a shrimp would be an ammonia overload. Maybe not, though.
Tank is very clear - no algae. First thing in the morning, I'll check the nitrites, and everything else again.
Thanks for responding!

 

[wataugachicken]

i actually prefer the ammonia method. it's much more controllable. you seem to have the right ideas as far as cycling. the only thing i would add might be to raise the added ammonia to 2.0. while you'll be cycling for a while longer, when the bacteria can finally get rid of the ammonia and nitrites within 24 hours then you can add all of the fish you want, instead of adding a few at a time and possibly getting small spikes in the future. the excess of bacteria will ensure that all the waste gets processed.