I am starting a 20 gallon long planted tank, and was very surprised about the water parameters just 48H after setup and planting. 1 ppm ammonia, 2 ppm nitrite, and 80-160 ppm nitrate. There are no fish and I can see only 1-3 trumpet snails that came along with the plants.
For context; I have eco-complete with 8-10 ez root tabs in mesh bags capped with coarse sand. There are a variety of stem plants, annubias, dwarf sag and java Fern. I added two pumps of easy green after adding the first water. I do have some cycled bio media in a HOB filter.
I was pleased to see that the "cycle" seemed to have started already, but I'm not sure what was causing such a spike in ammonia so quickly? Any thoughts?
(I did an 80% water change and the plants seem quite happy)