Trying not to panic

I started a 20 gallon tank on Thursday. I let the filter run for 24 hrs before adding my fish/snails from my 10 gallon tank. I put one of my filter sponges from my previous filter into the new filter, 90% of my plants/decor and added safestart.

I noticed my msytery snails were all at the top of the tank this morning and could smell that ammonia smell I remember from cycling before. So, I checked the parameters and ammonia is .50ppm and nitrates are between 5-10. Is the ammonia result something to be concerned about?

I don't want to panic and do something that will wreck this process. I may have overfed a bit because I was concerned about my baby otos not having enough algae (I was putting extra zucchinI in each day). So, my plan is to fast them a day and then feed sparingly until everything balances out.

Does that sound ok, or do I need to do something else?

 

HI amber,
According to Tetra, it's normal to get an ammonia reading when using it.
Your plan sounds good. Wait 10 days after adding TSS to test.
Good luck!

 

Thanks. I kept reading your note to them trying to be sure I didn't do anything wrong.

 

How's it going cycling your tank? Things should be starting to look better by now.

 

Yes, it cycled in a week. Parameters were 0, 0 and 10 at last check. I did a 30% water change to get some gunk off the bottom and all looks well!

 

That's great news!

 

Fantastic glad it worked out well