New to the Hobby

[Hunter]

Hello, My name is Hunter in from Phoenix AZ. I have been in the hobby for almost a month now trying to cycle my fish tank so that I can get some beautiful African Cichlids. I have a 210 tank and my numbers are Ammonia is around a 1.0 Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates are rising. (I tested yesterday afternoon Nitrates were around 5.0ppm) 09/26/2020

I do have a friend in the Hobby that has a sponge filter I was about to barrow for “instant cycling” (if that is truly true) when I did my test for fun about 4 hours after I put the sponge in my levels were ammonia 1.0 Nitrites 1.0 and Nitrates 0 My friend didn’t believe those numbers so about 15 after that we tested nitrites again and they were 0 

Do Nitrites truly disappear that quickly? 

Does this mean my tank had Cycled? If so how do I lower my ammonia levels? 

 

Thanks, 

 

Hunter 

[FishObsessed]

I don't know about the nitrites, but have you tested your water source to see if it has ammonia in it already? If you use tap water, it could possibly have ammonia in it. If it does, you could check out adding zeolite into your filter, or an additive to get rid of ammonia(seachem prime or something else)

Edited September 28, 2020 by FishObsessed