nitrate and ammonia question

[stacic8679]

Last night my ammonia was 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 5. Today I checked and the ammonia level is up to 0.5, nitrites 0, and nitrates 5. I thought the nitrates ate the ammonia so why is the ammonia going up? Do I need to doa water change or wait to see if it goes down? I just did a 50% water change Saturday and for those familiar with me I have had a hard time getting my tank cycled. This is the first time I have had nitrates.

 

[MissFishy]

You need to review the picture of cycling on my website linked below. Nitrite eats ammonia, nitrates eat the nitrite. As long as ammonia is below 1.0 ppm, it is fine. As soon as it starts going up do as many water changes as it takes to keep it down.

 

[Avalon]

It's possible that your nitrate reading is due to the nitrates already present in your source water. The ammonia reading is the beginning of the cycle.

 

[Matt Nace]

Last night my ammonia was 0, nitrites 0, and nitrates 5. Today I checked and the ammonia level is up to 0.5, nitrites 0, and nitrates 5. I thought the nitrates ate the ammonia so why is the ammonia going up? Do I need to doa water change or wait to see if it goes down? I just did a 50% water change Saturday and for those familiar with me I have had a hard time getting my tank cycled. This is the first time I have had nitrates.

This is your second thread tonight on this..... If that thread was not helpful, this one I hope did.

 

[stacic8679]

Sorry about the double post. My computer froze up and I didn't thinkit posted the first time so I did it again. oops