This doesn't seem right...

I have a 10 gallon tank that I put an established decoration in about 2 days ago when starting the tank. I added pure ammonia and last night and today my ammonia has been 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 20 ppm. How is this even possible? Also, I added just a little bit of bacteria supplement to jumpstart the cycle, but it doesn't seem like it could have happened this quickly. I'd like some help and input. Thanks

 

Welcome!

What bacteria supplement did you add? Are there any fish in the 10 gallon?

 

No fish. Doing fishless cycling with pure ammonia, It is topfin bacteria supplement. I tested ammonia about an hour after putting it in and it is around 10 ppm, but later it dropped down to 0 and nitrates went up.

 

I don't know about that specific supplement, but I do know a great many supplements contain the wrong bacteria. They will eat ammonia (competing with the good bacteria that you want to have) and die off after a while. How much ammonia did you add? (ppm)

 

Around 14 ppm

 

That... Can't be right. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't 14ppm ammonia overwhelm and kill the bacteria?

 

My thought would be yes, that high of an ammonia reading would do more damage that good.
I didn't know there were tests that read that high.

The thing with seeding your tank is you should be able to add a few fish right away.
They would create the ammonia needed to sustain the bacteria.

I'd be concerned that the additive is what has removed that amount of ammonia in such a short amount of time.
The lack of super high nitrates also leads me to believe this.

 

My thought would be yes, that high of an ammonia reading would do more damage that good.
I didn't know there were tests that read that high.

The thing with seeding your tank is you should be able to add a few fish right away.
They would create the ammonia needed to sustain the bacteria.

I'd be concerned that the additive is what has removed that amount of ammonia in such a short amount of time.
The lack of super high nitrates also leads me to believe this.

Nitrates are around 80ppm now.

 

This is really confusing me as I've never seen something like this before..

 

80 nitrates makes more sense.

If you haven't added any fish try adding some ammonia without the additive to see how long it takes to process.

Then you'll know for sure.

 

The bacterial additive can hang around for a little while right? Should he wait a bit before trying that?

 

You're right Echo. I guess it depends what was used.
Perhaps a water change first would help.

 

It could, unless the bacteria have already been pulled into the filter media. If it were me, I would wait about a week after adding the bacteria, then try adding ammonia.