Hi, I've bought a small saltwater tank and I started cycling it about 3 weeks ago. At first i added some fish flakes as a source of ammonia, and at that time i still hadn't had a test kit. When I got the test kit (about 1 week later) the ammonia readings were at 0.5ppm and surprisingly I also read some nitrates already (about 10ppm). I kept adding fish flakes, but the levels didn't change.
Then, recently, I added a frozen shrimp in the tank, and after 2 days the readings were still the same.
I thought that maybe my cycle was done and i stopped adding ammonia, but two days later the levels didn't move a bit.
I only added an aquarium rock, dechlorinator and some bottled bacteria my pet store sold. I couldn't find any bottled ammonia online or in stores.
The temperature is stable at 82°F (28°C)
Salinity is at 1.025
It's surprising that in the course of 2 weeks the nitrates and ammonia were always the same considering that i added a pinch of fish flakes about every day. Where did all of that rotting stuff go? What could be the problem here?
Then, recently, I added a frozen shrimp in the tank, and after 2 days the readings were still the same.
I thought that maybe my cycle was done and i stopped adding ammonia, but two days later the levels didn't move a bit.
I only added an aquarium rock, dechlorinator and some bottled bacteria my pet store sold. I couldn't find any bottled ammonia online or in stores.
The temperature is stable at 82°F (28°C)
Salinity is at 1.025
It's surprising that in the course of 2 weeks the nitrates and ammonia were always the same considering that i added a pinch of fish flakes about every day. Where did all of that rotting stuff go? What could be the problem here?