about 2 weeks ago i had started my cycle(yea thus my curiosity the short time)

i had set my aquarium as perfect from all suggestions i read to the best i can.

due to responses i forgo my original plan to raise goldfish, being 5 gallon is too small, so i decided to go the route of 1 betta and maybe a shrimp or 2, but let's just say betta first.

anyways here's my issue, day 1 set everything up let everything run. w/ api stress coat+ to purify the water. everything perfect so far.

day 2 i put enough ammonia for about 2-3 ppm

blah blah let it sit for a few days... test still the same.

i go on vaca to vegas for edc week for about 5 days... come back so i might of missed seeing the bacterial bloom pop out. but when i tested for ammonia when i came back, it read 0 ppm.

now its about 2 weeks in or so, every time i drop a few drops of ammonia in every 12 hrs or so it would read from 1-2ppm to 0.

while i do not see an nitrite spikes... or even nitrates shoot up to 20ppm that some say will happen, nitrates stays around the 5 ppm mark.

do i continue to let it sit until i see a spike in nitrites?

or should i just go w/ the water change and start adding a betta? i really dont wanna hurt/harm anything. anyways here's a pic of all my water tests maybe someone will be insightful and help me out.




WOAH SORRY FOR HUGE PICS DUNNO HOW TO MAKE THEM SMALLER, APOLOGIES!

If you're getting those values after putting some ammonia it looks to me like things are cycled.

I would still just try one fish and not feed for a week just to be safe.

my .02

thanks, yea i wasnt sure ill hold out a few more days. and keep on testing, ive heard w/ smaller tanks it will take less time, but i wanna be 100% i dont wanna hurt anymore lil buddies.

Just to be clear, you're saying you never read any nitrItes?
Are you sure that nitrAte test isn't reading 0ppm instead of 5ppm?
What happened with me: My fishless cycle stalled out a little last week after my pH dropped precipitously, I had to do a major water change and I'm thinking it's back on track. It stalled because apparently the bacteria that turn nitrIte to nitrAte thrive in a higher pH. Also, these bacteria take a little longer to grow than the stuff that converts ammonia to nitrite.
But your pH looks fine, so maybe your cycle is done. Still, the nitrIte to nitrAte is the hard part, I hear.

yea that's what ima wait out a few more days and see where it goes b4 i put anything living in the water. basically the pics i took accompanied w/ this thread is all reading from today 5-6 hrs ago. i mean i know bettas are cheap but i rather they not go thru the stress w/ an uncycled tank.

That's good, I think I'd do the same. You probably know this already, but just in case– even if your tank is cycled, make sure to keep adding ammonia up to about 1ppm regularly (I only add every 24 hrs). Don't want your bacteria to go hungry and perish while you wait to add fish.

thanks! yeap i read that too

this forum has been very enlightening.