Strange test results

[Huugs]

I am only on day 6 of cycling but i am getting strange results.
ammonia and nitrite = 0.5 ppm
nitrate = 20 or 40 ppm (probably inbetween)

Iam doing a fishless cycle but i havent been able to get any ammonia and put some food in instead. (only found out bout shrimp yesterday). there is a couple of plants in but thats about it. I dont think it can be cycled but i dont understand why there are nitrates already. I did use one dose of nutrafin cycle until i read that you shouldnt.

Any ideas why i would be getting these results?
Im gonna do a partial water change to keep the nitrate down but i havnt actually noticed any spikes in the others.

[ron v]

Does your tap water have nitrates?

[Huugs]

OK so that explains it a bit.
My tapwater has a nitrate level of about 20ppm so is there anything i can do about this? Will doing the partial water changes actually have that much effect?

I have 3real plants in there at the moment that should use some of the nitrates but they dont seem to do that much.

[MyraVan]

Basically, you need some fast-growing plants to help with your nitrate readings. If your plants are slow-growing, and if you have too few of them, it won't do much.

[ron v]

I agree with Myra. You need lots of plants and good light.