First Timer Needs Help With Fishtank Cycling

Hi everyone I got myself a 64L Interpet tank, with a Fluval U2 filter and Interpet heater, filled it up gave it a dose of tap safe and a dose of ATM Colony and set it away. I let it run for about 3 days with just the gravel substrate, 2 dragon rocks and some java fern and no fish. After a day of cloudy water it has been crystal clear. Then on day 4 I added 5 neon tetras on advice from pets at home (I know now) then after a week I added 2 Cory Julliis. During this time I didn't test the water as I was told I wouldn't get much of a reading!!!!!! Since discovering this forum I bought myself an API test kit and my results are ammonia 0.05. Nitrite 0 nitrate 5.0 these tests were done last night following a 30% water change and then again tonight another 30%water change and tests were exactly the same results. I'm puzzled how the readings are the same following big water changes. I also tested my tap water and it was zero ammonia. So far the fish look ok but I realise I have to get ammonia and nitrite down to zero but don't know how. Please can you point me in the right direction.

Welcome to the forum @Gazzariff
Don't worry, you have caught things before they have gone wrong Well done !
The best next step is to read Sue's article of fish-cycle
http://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fishtank-filtration-and-cycling/fish-in-cycling-with-fish-how-to-do-it/
This will guide you through the steps to set the filter up (cycle) There are also a few members willing to donate some material from their filters to speed the process up and you find a list of them in the same section.
For peace of mind do the ammonia calculation (test kits read TAN which is a combined figure) if you do a search for 'calculating the toxicity of ammonia' you will find several sites that have a table that will give the conversion factor for your water temperature and pH and you will find the NH3 (the toxic bit) is much lower than you think. I have the formula but it's just as easy to look at the published tables. The NH3 value should not be above 0.02ppm.
The NitrAte (NO3) is completely fine and the level you see is either from your tap water or it's a colour chart error, I would not be expecting your filter to start producing NitrAte for at least a month, maybe more.
Best of luck, any more questions, just ask

@fcmf You beat me to the post button !

@Gazzariff
You will need to carry on feeding as the cycle process will take weeks to fully complete, plus the tank bacteria also need a food source and the fish waste is part of that. Don't go mad on the food, I don't recall seeing a suggested feeding rate other than the general "enough food to be eaten in 3 min of feeding" The frequent water changes the method uses is the control method to keep the waste lo acceptable levels
Absolutely use prime or another water de-chlorinator, this is part of your fish keeping life from now on and is always used when changing or replacing evaporated water. You will use quite a bit during this initial setup but that is just because of the frequent changes that are needed but after that it is just a small quantity during weekly changes and is one of the lowest cost parts of fish care.

Hi everyone it's 4 weeks now since my last post my Amonia levels are at 1.0 now and I'm doing 20% water changes every day dosed with prime to help the fish survive, shall I put off cleaning the gravel and filter until after the tank is cycled and do you think the water changes are ample. So far the fish seem ok so the prime must be doing its stuff.

Thanks Sue

Thanks Samantha looking forward to being cycled did yours take long

Hi all as mentioned previously I'm doing a fish in cycle and I am six weeks in, I'm keeping the fish ok with daily water changes dosed with Prime. My question is this do you think it would help if I removed one of the carbon foam filter pads in my Fluval U2 and replaced it with another ceramic media one, so I would have one foam/carbon pad and 2 x ceramic media, just a thought.

Thanks Sue

The first thing to say is that ammonia can be hard to read. A lot of people report that they have never seen the zero colour even on tanks that have been running for years. Have you tested your tap water to see what the ammonia reading on that is? If that's also 0.25 it could be that you are one of those who always see pale green even when it's zero. Light can also affect the test if you are reading it under fluorescent tubes or energy saving bulbs.
Nessler based ammonia testers (and most of our liquid regent testers are Nessler based) are affected by Prime. From Seachem's Prime FAQs

A Nessler based kit will not read ammonia properly if you are using Prime®... it will look "off scale", sort of a muddy brown

Since your nitrite is zero, can I suggest you use this ammonia calculator. It tells you how much of your ammonia reading is in the more toxic ammonia form. Since the proportions of ammonia and ammonium are pH and temperature dependant, using a calculator like this is a handy tool for each individual tank.
On the left side, leave the first box as it is. Enter your ammonia, pH and temp (which can be changed to deg C) and set salinity to zero. Then click calculate. The number you want is the lower one on the right hand side, the one labelled NH3 concentration.
If that number is below 0.02 it is safe to leave longer between water changes. You only need to do the next one if your ammonia reading increases until the calculator reaches 0.02.

I suspect that after six weeks you'll find your ammonia reading does not go up even without doing daily water changes. If this is indeed what happens, despite a reading of 0.25 the tank is cycled, and you can start adding more fish, a few at a time.

That is well below 0.02 so there isn't enough free ammonia in the tank to harm the fish. I would stop doing water changes every day but continue testing daily. If the ammonia level increases you can use the calculator to see if you are still below that level. Provided your nitrite stays at zero, you only need to do a water change when the calculator-ammonia gets to 0.02. Or after a week whichever comes first.

If you find that your ammonia tester does not go any higher than 0.25 for a week, I'd count that as cycled. As I said earlier, some people never see that yellow colour on the chart but have been running years with no problems so they must be cycled. Being apparently stuck at 0.25 is a well known problem. Provided it stays forever at that reading and never goes up, the consensus is to treat it as though it is zero.