Why are my Nitrite, ammonia and nitrate levels so funky?

[daj24601]

I have had my 10 gallon for about 2 weeks now. I have two live plants and four fish. I got the plants a few days, maybe three, before my fish. The day after I first put my fish in, my nitrate levels were around 8. Not thinking this was significant, I didn't check them again until days later when they sunk to 5, and have since stayed there.

My ammonia levels have never climbed above 1ppm, and the highest my nitrite has ever reached is .25ppm. It seems to me that every thing I have read says first I should have a huge spike in Ammonia, followed by a huge spike in nitrite, followed by a spike in nitrate signalling my cycle is complete. Is 1ppm ammonia followed by .25ppm nitrite a spike? Doesn't seem so to me. I even went as far to borrow some material from a friends biological fileter (his tank is cycled) and still no change. If I don't see the spikes, does it mean my tank isn't cycling? Can a cycle occur gently? (when ever my ammonia hits 1ppm I usually do a water change. Also we found out our water has 1ppm ammonia from the tap so we have been using distilled water for the past week; I wonder if the distilled water has chlorine in it?)

A lot of questions, I know. Thanks.

 

[theop]

Your quoted maximum levels are enough to count as a "spike" for a cycle. You generally will be cycled once you detect nitrates (the exception is when there is some in your tap water). What are the levels now? If ammonia and nitrite are down to 0 and your nitrate is still at 5 then you are cycled... Congrats. The fact that you used some filter media from an established tank likely dramatically sped up your cycle, and that is a good thing.

A couple of other points though:
1. Your fish cannot live in only distilled water. You'll have no pH buffers and they need some dissolved solutes. Same with RO (reverse osmosis) water which you can also buy at some grocery stores. One thing to use is an additive (I use "RO Right" to add the needed trace minerals without any of the bad stuff like silicates or phosphates).

2. A good dechorinator will also take care of the ammonia in your tap water. I use Prime.

3. You can still get a mini-cycle any time you add new creatures. You shouldn't get really high spikes, just some detectable ammonia then nitrite as your bacteria populations grow to match the additional bio-load (ammonia production) of your new fish.

4. Continue to test your pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate every 3-4 days for a couple more weeks to make sure everything is stable.

5. Finally, your tank will be much more stable and easy to care for if you don't overstock it. When tempted to overstock, just buy a new tank!

Good luck and have fun!

 

[OrionGirl]

Plants utilize ammonia, so they will prevent a large spike for both ammonia and nitrite. I'd still do water changes to keep the levels low.

Rather than using distilled, which doesn't have enough KH to promote a stable pH, you should use a water conditioner like Amquel or Prime, which treat the chloramine and resulting ammonia.

 

[Kasakato]

If you are doing a fishy cycle, you are looking at daily water changes. You have to do daily 50% water changes to keep you levels lower.

 

[Rosemary]

You could use a water conditioner to removie the ammonia from your tapwater, e.g. Amquel+ or Prime.

 

[Kasakato]

No water changes are better!