Please help! Cycling new tank. Confusing Readings

Im 13 days in to cycling a 15 gal cube. A few plants from an old tank and a few handfuls of substrate from cycled tank were added. Also added Seachem Stability with no results. On day 10 i added Fritz Zyme 7.
Readings before Fritz were:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 40 ppm
Readings after Fritz:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0
Why has the ammonia not depleted yet? Am i still on my way to a cycled tank?

Plants are Monte carlo (grown emersed but have taken well with minimal melt and lots of new growth), Pennywort, Japan Clover, Ludwigia super Red, Dwarf Sag, Xmas moss, riccia, Subwassertang, few red root floaters, one large java fern that may get removed. Soil is just “aquatic plant pond soil” with pool filter sand. 4 large seiryu stones aswell.
Would adding one Siamese algea eater be a bad move?
I forgot to mention im using RO/DI water. Fert w/ PPS Pro method. CO2 infusion also.
Im unsure if i should do a water change, id hate to disturb and colonizing bacteria

 

Im 13 days in to cycling a 15 gal cube. A few plants from an old tank and a few handfuls of substrate from cycled tank were added. Also added Seachem Stability with no results. On day 10 i added Fritz Zyme 7.
Readings before Fritz were:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 40 ppm
Readings after Fritz:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0
Why has the ammonia not depleted yet? Am i still on my way to a cycled tank?

Plants are Monte carlo (grown emersed but have taken well with minimal melt and lots of new growth), Pennywort, Japan Clover, Ludwigia super Red, Dwarf Sag, Xmas moss, riccia, Subwassertang, few red root floaters, one large java fern that may get removed. Soil is just “aquatic plant pond soil” with pool filter sand. 4 large seiryu stones aswell.
Would adding one Siamese algea eater be a bad move?
I forgot to mention im using RO/DI water. Fert w/ PPS Pro method. CO2 infusion also.
Im unsure if i should do a water change, id hate to disturb and colonizing bacteria

Between the substrate, all those plants, Seachem Stability, AND FritzZyme 7, it is certainly very odd that ammonia is not being consumed, especially given it has been a while now and it is still exactly at 0.25ppm ammonia. 0.25ppm ammonia is not much at all and should have definitely been consumed by something in the tank.

So! More than likely it is a false positive reading, which is very common to happen with the API ammonia test. There are many theories behind why, including that the API ammonia test kit's resolution is not superb, so even if there is barely more ammonia than 0, it could still register as 0.25ppm anyways.

My recommendation? Treat it as a reading of zero. It may suddenly actually read yellow in a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or never. I have seen people report suddenly reading 0.25ppm ammonia as a false positive reading after years of a tank being established, only to yes, also disappear a while later.

 

Between the substrate, all those plants, Seachem Stability, AND FritzZyme 7, it is certainly very odd that ammonia is not being consumed, especially given it has been a while now and it is still exactly at 0.25ppm ammonia. 0.25ppm ammonia is not much at all and should have definitely been consumed by something in the tank.

So! More than likely it is a false positive reading, which is very common to happen with the API ammonia test. There are many theories behind why, including that the API ammonia test kit's resolution is not superb, so even if there is barely more ammonia than 0, it could still register as 0.25ppm anyways.

My recommendation? Treat it as a reading of zero. It may suddenly actually read yellow in a few days, a few weeks, a few months, or never. I have seen people report suddenly reading 0.25ppm ammonia as a false positive reading after years of a tank being established, only to yes, also disappear a while later.

Thanks so much for the reply! Would you add one or two small siamese algea eaters at this stage? Or wait to be safe? Will it possibly aid in seeing a safe reading?
I set this tank up for my 2 dwarf pea puffers and several neocaradina shrimp. My main concern is when will it be safe for them?

Im 13 days in to cycling a 15 gal cube. A few plants from an old tank and a few handfuls of substrate from cycled tank were added. Also added Seachem Stability with no results. On day 10 i added Fritz Zyme 7.
Readings before Fritz were:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 40 ppm
Readings after Fritz:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0
Why has the ammonia not depleted yet? Am i still on my way to a cycled tank?

I forgot to mention im using RO/DI water. Fert w/ PPS Pro method. CO2 infusion also.
Im unsure if i should do a water change, id hate to disturb and colonizing bacteria

My main questions are:

1.Should i do a 20% water change?
2.When will it be safe for 2 dwarf Pea puffers and Neocaridina shrimp? (When i get a reading of 0/0 ammo/nitrite?
3.Would adding a hardy siamese algea eater or 2 be a bad move at this stage? (To speed cycle for the puffers)

Plants are Monte carlo (grown emersed but have taken well with minimal melt and lots of new growth), Pennywort, Japan Clover, Ludwigia super Red, Dwarf Sag, Xmas moss, riccia, Subwassertang, few red root floaters, one large java fern that may get removed. Soil is just “aquatic plant pond soil” with pool filter sand. 4 large seiryu stones aswell.

Would adding one Siamese algea eater be a bad move?

 

What are you doing with the SAE after? 15 gallons is small for them and they grow pretty quick.

 

my neighbor has a pond with the SAEs and will let me borrow some lil guys if necessary. (They successfully rid my old tank of BBA in the past)

 

We like test kits, but don't like test kits if you know what I mean? Lol

Maybe they are a round about reading, but if one took a sample from all 4 corners and the centre of the aquarium it would say slightly different. And the next day the same....I have found it costly sometimes and frustrating but we still use them lol. Mostly for breeding. Never seen ammonia just hang around though.

This is a interesting post, how can that ammonia just be?

*Edit
Maybe add some Anubias, Hornwort, duckweed, Egeria, Java moss?

 

Im 13 days in to cycling a 15 gal cube. A few plants from an old tank and a few handfuls of substrate from cycled tank were added. Also added Seachem Stability with no results. On day 10 i added Fritz Zyme 7.
Readings before Fritz were:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 2.0
Nitrate 40 ppm
Readings after Fritz:
Ammonia 0.25 ppm
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 5.0
Why has the ammonia not depleted yet? Am i still on my way to a cycled tank?

Plants are Monte carlo (grown emersed but have taken well with minimal melt and lots of new growth), Pennywort, Japan Clover, Ludwigia super Red, Dwarf Sag, Xmas moss, riccia, Subwassertang, few red root floaters, one large java fern that may get removed. Soil is just “aquatic plant pond soil” with pool filter sand. 4 large seiryu stones aswell.
Would adding one Siamese algea eater be a bad move?
I forgot to mention im using RO/DI water. Fert w/ PPS Pro method. CO2 infusion also.
Im unsure if i should do a water change, id hate to disturb and colonizing bacteria

Can you run an ammonia test on your source water and again on your tank and post pictures of the results here?

I’m not suggesting you have ammonia in your source water. . . Instead, I’d just like to see how the test results compare.