Starting A New Tank

Sounds like you've cracked it.   Fish time!

The cycle is indeed finished; youobviously had enough nitrite eaters when you started this thread, but we couldn't know for certain. It's just that there was so much nitrite made that the bacteria were still eating their way through it all 

You only need to add 1 ppm ammonia every 2 or 3 days at this stage, but adding 3 ppm will just mean more nitrate and is nothing to worry about.
Before you get fish you need to empty as much water as possible to get rid of all the nitrate made during cycling. Ideally, you should get it down to just about the same level as is in your tap water.



So, what are your fish plans?

Just in the process of re-filling the tank in readiness for fish purchase tomorrow. Is it okay to leave the water as is or, should I add another 1ml of ammonia?

Sue,

Thank you for your quick response and advice. Yes, tomorrow is "shopping day" with the wife. As I said previously I will start with 5 Cherry Barbs and 5 Rosy Tetras and build on them in the coming weeks / months.

Once again many thanks for your help.

Yes I would feed them at what will be your normal feeding time today.  Depending on what type of food they were fed at the shop, you may find they take a while to get used to your food.

Hi,

I have the Tetra-Min Flakes at the moment, so thought I would give them 4 -5 flakes and see how they get along with that amount?

I typed a reply to this earlier but must have forgotten to post it 

I would also crush the flakes especially of you mean 4 to 5 flakes in total or the greedier fish will take a whole flake leaving other fish without. By breaking the flakes, all the fish get a chance.


If you mean 4 to 5 flakes per fish, I agree with Matt, that is too much.


And I'll remember to click post this time 

I find that some species like to feed from the surface, some prefer to feed from further down. It is obvious what to do if you have all one type or the other (don't soak anything or soak everything) and if you have both types, soak some and put some straight in.

None of my fish like to feed directly from the surface. The rasboras and Boraras will only eat food that is floating mid water; the rest eat from mid water and the bottom. So I feed both flakes and sinking pellets, and soak them both.



One word of caution. I noticed that the filter sucks some food in before the fish can get it all so I started turning the filter off for a few minutes. One day I got distracted and forgot to turn it back on - and only noticed the following day. Luckily the ammonia and nitrite tests both showed zero which I can only put down to the plants and bacteria all over the surfaces in the tank.
If you find that the food in your tank gets sucked up, be warned what can happen if you turn the filter off 

All sounds a good plan.

If this is helpful, this shows the lid of Tetramin plus some broken-up flake and pellets to feed 11 fish (5 tetras and 6 harlequins):
#81 in this thread: https://forums.thinkfish.co.uk/fishtank-filtration-and-cycling/fishless-cycling-problem/msg32739/#msg32739

My food is so crushed as it's nearing the end of the container and so it's mainly crumbs. I think variation is good - from a nutrition perspective and to maximise the chance of everyone getting fed. Your harlequins and tetras are the opposite of mine in terms of their attitude to food - my tetras (esp the females) are first in there, "elbowing" everyone else out of the way with their pectoral fins and tail/body swishes.