Ammonia, No Nitrites, But Nitrates?

So I recently used tetra safestart in my 40 gallon axolotl tank and there began to be some results. Ammonia dropped down from 1ppm to a level <0.25ppm, 0 nitrites, and nitrates rose to 40 ppm, so I assumed the tank was cycled. But today, ammonia was at 0.5 ppm, nitrates went down to 20ppm, and 0 nitrites. Can anyone explain what happened? (Also there's ammonia in the tap water)

 

Sounds like you are still cycling. Keep testing and when your ammonia stabilizes and nitrates keep rising, you should be completing your cycle. That's the way I understand cycles anyway. (I didnt start from scratch, I used a seeded filter), so I'm curious myself if I got it right, or correct my knowlege if I'm off base.

 

Will adding another bottle of tss help?

 

Its strange that your nitrates dropped from 40ppm to 20ppm. Did you do a water change? Or did you add a bunch of plants? That shouldn't happen, even diring a cycle. Did you read the bottle correctly?

 

Denitrifying bacteria can drop your nitrates. Turns them into n gas .. makes for a healthy stable tank.

 

Maybe I read the kit wrong, but I have a bunch of anacharis in the tank. Maybe that's lowering the nitrates?

But what I want to know is if its ok for me to put another bottle of tss later. I did a water change today just because its been over a week since I last did one

 

How recently did you use the TSS? For the first 10 days it can mess with the testing reagents and produce weird results.

 

November 7th?

It was for sure more than a week ago

 

Normally, during cycling, water changes are nill since you don't want to remove the beneficial stuff before it has finished working. Unlike with a fish in tank, water changes are unnecessary until your cycle is complete and you are ready to add fish. Ususally the water change is to reduce nitrates from the cycling process, and provide fresh water foe your fish.

 

Well I did a water change without it finishing, should I start over again and wait until its actually done?

 

Hello, do you have fish in or no fish in aquarium? If you have no fish in you need an ammonia source to keep the cycle going. Like fish food or shrimp. If you do have fish in then you need to be doing water changes to keep ammonia and nitrites down. You can add another amount of TSS+ if you have fish in. But by doing water changes you are keeping harmful levels down. So, yes, you can add more TSS if you want.

 

So I recently used tetra safestart in my 40 gallon axolotl tank and there began to be some results. Ammonia dropped down from 1ppm to a level <0.25ppm, 0 nitrites, and nitrates rose to 40 ppm, so I assumed the tank was cycled. But today, ammonia was at 0.5 ppm, nitrates went down to 20ppm, and 0 nitrites. Can anyone explain what happened? (Also there's ammonia in the tap water)

I cycled my last tank with just the ammonia in my tap.