Is my bio filter not working? (w/water tests)

HI all, newbie here. I've been at this less than a month, but am curious about test readings I'm getting - mainly that I have consistently high ammonia, and zero nitrites/nitrates after three weeks. Fish seem to be ok. Is my bio filter not working? From what I understand, My ammonia levels should be going down and nitrites, then nitrates going up, but I am not seeing this.

10 gallon tank
5 guppies, 5 neon tetras, 1 mystery snail
live plants (amazon swords)
flourite/clay substrate

using the API freshwater master test kit for tests:

11/16 - morning - set up tank, treated tap water and added turbo start
11/16 - later in day - added guppies & snail
11/23 - 7.8 pH, 0.5 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, 0 ppm nitrate
12/1 - 7.8 pH, 1.0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, 0 ppm nitrate
12/1 - water change (~1/3 tank) using treated tap water, added neon tetras
12/7 - at this point, I decided to test my tap water and got a 0.5 ppm ammonia reading (should I be worried about this for myself??). Decided going forward that water changes would be done with my fridge filtered water, which I tested and got a 0 ppm ammonia reading.
12/7 - 7.4 pH, 1.0 ppm ammonia (though closer to 1.5 ppm based color), 0 ppm nitrite, 0 ppm nitrate (slight orange hue led me to believe some nitrates, but much closer to 0 ppm yellow)
12/7 - water change (~1/2 tank), using treated filtered water
12/8 - 7.4 pH, 1.0 ppm ammonia (def lighter green than the previous day's test before the 1/2 water change), 0 ppm nitrite, 0 ppm nitrate (no slight orange hue this time)

From what I understand of the nitrogen cycle and the biological filter, after 3 weeks there should be bacteria converting at least some of that ammonia to nitrites, but I have gotten a consistent 0 ppm for all my nitrite tests. So, might there be something wrong with my filter? How can I specifically test for this? Any other red flags in my readings?

Thank you for your help! Attaching a pic of my tank in case relevant.

 

I'm not familiar with turbo start but I assume it's a beneficial bacteria product. You have ammonia to feed the bacteria so they should be starting to grow. I suggest adding more bb I have always used API quick start or/ and tetra safestart.
As you already have fish in the tank you should try to keep the ammonia down to about 0.5 with water changes, this may slow things down but it should protect the fish from ammonia poisoning.
The bacteria should grow on your biological media, what bio media are you using? Remember not to clean this media when you do water changes.

 

Thanks Heron. You can see from the attached picture that I have a rock, a large piece of wood (driftwood? I forget the exact type of wood), the amazon swords, and a couple plastic decorations (the castle and treasure chest).

I only used the Turbo Start when I first set up the tank. I did not re-add any when I did the two water changes after 2 and 3 weeks. but it sounds like perhaps I should add some more. The product is "Fritz-Zyme Turbo Start Freshwater 700" and says it is "concentrated live nitrifying bacteria." It was recommended by the aquarium store.

Since I only did partial water changes, I did not clean the surfaces of any of the media in the tank.

 

Hello motion...

If you have a trace of ammonia or nitrite in the tank water, the tank isn't established. You should be removing and replacing a third of the water every three to four days for a least a couple of weeks. Then, you change half the water weekly for the life of the tank. This should cycle the tank and keep the water chemistry safe for the fish.

Old

 

Heron - I think I misunderstood what you meant by biological media. You mean what's inside the filter? I got one of those all-in-one Aqueon kits (tank, filter, heater, etc all included), so I don't know exactly - I just set it up as instructed.

Old - thank you. Will continue to do water changes until cycle is established.

 

Adding more bb will speed things up a bit but patience is important. Remember you can not overdose bb products. I usually just put the entire bottle in, partly because the more you add the quicker it works but also once opened it doesn't tend to keep very long so you may as well use it up.
Sometimes you buy bb products that don't work because the shop has had them too long or let them get too hot in storage.

 

Heron - I think I misunderstood what you meant by biological media. You mean what's inside the filter? I got one of those all-in-one Aqueon kits (tank, filter, heater, etc all included), so I don't know exactly - I just set it up as instructed.

Old - thank you. Will continue to do water changes until cycle is established.

I assume if it's all in one that it must have suitable media in it.

 

I add the bacteria directly into the filter. Not necessary but I feel it works better. Tanks can take varying amounts of time to cycle, lots of factors like fish loads, feeding amount, size of tank, type of food etc. Be patient you'll get there.

 

Your experience is why I never use bottled bacteria to cycle tanks. With bottled bacteria you might as well throw out your test kit because your readings won't make sense. In my opinion, the posts you see every day from people tearing their hair out trying to figure out what's going on after they added bottled bacteria proves that using the natural method to cycle is much more straightforward and has a much higher success rate. I'm also not convinced that bottled bacteria cycles a tank any faster on average. Letting the tank cycle naturally will produce test readings that make sense, and you can completely control the levels with water changes (most bottled bacteria products say not to do water changes after they told you to add fish immediately - horrible advice if you ask me).

 

Your experience is why I never use bottled bacteria to cycle tanks. With bottled bacteria you might as well throw out your test kit because your readings won't make sense. In my opinion, the posts you see every day from people tearing their hair out trying to figure out what's going on after they added bottled bacteria proves that using the natural method to cycle is much more straightforward and has a much higher success rate. I'm also not convinced that bottled bacteria cycles a tank any faster on average. Letting the tank cycle naturally will produce test readings that make sense, and you can completely control the levels with water changes (most bottled bacteria products say not to do water changes after they told you to add fish immediately - horrible advice if you ask me).

Bottled bacteria simply give you a starting point for cycling. Both types of bacteria roughly double in number every 2 days. If you start with very few it will obviously take longer to get a reasonable number, adding some
Just speeds up the establishment of the initial colony. To fully cycle a filter requires far more bacteria than even a number of bottles can provide and it needs them to make home on the media not just float around in the water. So ultimately it still needs to cycle even if you add loads.
BB products do speed up the process in the early stage but they will NOT do away with the need to wait. Products that claim to allow an instant cycle and allow you to stock the tank straight away just don't work.
The best cycling solution remains a fishless cycle followed by gentle stocking.

 

Your experience is why I never use bottled bacteria to cycle tanks. With bottled bacteria you might as well throw out your test kit because your readings won't make sense. In my opinion, the posts you see every day from people tearing their hair out trying to figure out what's going on after they added bottled bacteria proves that using the natural method to cycle is much more straightforward and has a much higher success rate. I'm also not convinced that bottled bacteria cycles a tank any faster on average. Letting the tank cycle naturally will produce test readings that make sense, and you can completely control the levels with water changes (most bottled bacteria products say not to do water changes after they told you to add fish immediately - horrible advice if you ask me).

You kind of answered your own critique of the bottle bacteria, don't test the water until it is time to do so. I have used tetra safe start to start several tanks and each time it worked as directed. By day 14 they were cycled. Tetra says to add their product and then not test the water for the first 14 days, because it might tempt you to start adding stuff based on those readings. If you let it do it's thing and follow the directs you should have a cycled tank in 14 days. Each time I have done it it has worked.
No doubt that the ideal way would to always cycle a tank without fish but it is not always practical especially in situations like this or when a pet store sends people home with a tank and fish all in the same day. Any time I've had people get in a situation where they have a tank with fish that is not cycled I recommend them doing water changes to get the ammonia as low as possible, then adding the recommended dose of TSS, and then wait 2 weeks.

 

Tetra says to add their product and then not test the water for the first 14 days, because it might tempt you to start adding stuff based on those readings. If you let it do it's thing and follow the directs you should have a cycled tank in 14 days. Each time I have done it it has worked.