Newbie Fishless Cycle Questions

I'm a few days into a fishless cycle and have a few questions. I dosed with ammonia to about 4ppm on Friday. On Sunday a friend gave me a used sponge from his well established tank and I added that. The ammonia level has definitely gone down, but nitrites have remained at zero. My questions:
1) I have ammonia in my tap water. Will I still see the tank ammonia go down to zero eventually?
2) When should I add more ammonia?
3) Will I eventually see a nitrite spike?

Current readings, tap water on the left

 

I'm a few days into a fishless cycle and have a few questions. I dosed with ammonia to about 4ppm on Friday. On Sunday a friend gave me a used sponge from his well established tank and I added that. The ammonia level has definitely gone down, but nitrites have remained at zero. My questions:
1) I have ammonia in my tap water. Will I still see the tank ammonia go down to zero eventually?
2) When should I add more ammonia?
3) Will I eventually see a nitrite spike?

Current readings, tap water on the leftView attachment 736959
View attachment 736959

Maybe test for nitrates? The established sponge could have converted it already. I would continue to monitor the ammonia levels.

 

I've checked nitrates, it's around 40ppm but I suspect that is from his filter and water I dumped in.

 

When using well seeded media quite often you won't get a nitrite spike. Add ammonia each time it goes down to zero in the tank. Once your cycle is complete it will process the ammonia in your tap water down to zero.

If you don't already have it I will recommend you get a bottle of prime. It is first and foremost a water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines much like all other water conditioners but it goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. When you do your water changes it will detox the ammonia in your source water long enough to allow the cycle (bacteria) to remove it.

What size is this tank? The size of the tank and future stocking plans can somewhat determine how much ammonia you need to add each time. We are trying to mimic the future bio-load.

Edited to add: You won't need the Prime until you put fish in the tank. You don't need to detox the ammonia while fishless cycling.

 

When using well seeded media quite often you won't get a nitrite spike. Add ammonia each time it goes down to zero in the tank. Once your cycle is complete it will process the ammonia in your tap water down to zero.

If you don't already have it I will recommend you get a bottle of prime. It is first and foremost a water conditioner designed to remove chlorine/chloramines much like all other water conditioners but it goes one step farther and detoxes low levels of ammonia. When you do your water changes it will detox the ammonia in your source water long enough to allow the cycle (bacteria) to remove it.

What size is this tank? The size of the tank and future stocking plans can somewhat determine how much ammonia you need to add each time. We are trying to mimic the future bio-load.

Thank you, this is super helpful. I did get a bottle of Prime after I realized there was ammonia in my tap water. Now that I know that I should eventually get to zero on the ammonia that helps a great deal.

My tank is 20 gallons. I'm planning to stock initially with just a few black skirt tetras & a small group of neons. Eventually I want to add some dwarf gourami & cory cats but I'm not in a rush.

 

Thank you, this is super helpful. I did get a bottle of Prime after I realized there was ammonia in my tap water. Now that I know that I should eventually get to zero on the ammonia that helps a great deal.

My tank is 20 gallons. I'm planning to stock initially with just a few black skirt tetras & a small group of neons. Eventually I want to add some dwarf gourami & cory cats but I'm not in a rush.

Just a warning, Black Skirts are known to nip fins and could nip at the corys.

 

Thank you, this is super helpful. I did get a bottle of Prime after I realized there was ammonia in my tap water. Now that I know that I should eventually get to zero on the ammonia that helps a great deal.

Good job. While cycling, any of the many water conditioners will work just fine but once there are fish in there the Prime will protect your water pets from the ammonia in your source water. Your cycle should remove it before the affects of the Prime wear off.

My tank is 20 gallons. I'm planning to stock initially with just a few black skirt tetras & a small group of neons. Eventually I want to add some dwarf gourami & cory cats but I'm not in a rush.

If at all possible start out with no less than 6 black skirts. Mine are constantly hanging out with each other. That tells me they enjoy company of their own kind. Occasionally, once grown, you may witness them chasing and rubbing up against each other but that is just their mating behavior. Mine never hurt each other and have never bothered any of their tank mates. I have neon and blood fin tetras in with them. They all get along with each other.

I would try to grow enough bacteria to process about 3ppm ammonia. That should easily handle your future bio-load.

Just a warning, Black Skirts are known to nip fins and could nip at the corys.

I suppose that is a possibility but I have both black skirts and corys and thankfully have never had this happen.