what the heck is going on???

[RockabillyChick]

i started my 10 gallon with a fishless cycle. i set it all up, got the filter running, the heater, some plants, and added bottled ammonia (pure, no detergents of surfactants in it) until it reached 4ppm. and i waited. for about a week. then i got fed up and dumped in a packet of biospira. yes, i know that i did it wrong.

anyway, it started working. my nitrites jumped from 0 to 2ppm within 24 hours. i thought "Great! now we're in buisness!"

nope. the nitrites quickly rose above readable levels on my test kit, and the ammonia stayed at 4ppm. i waited another week. nothing changed.

my husband was making fun of me saying there wouldn't be fish in the tank until 2009. so i figured the biospira bacteria had had enough time to find their way into the filter and not be floating around in the water anymore. so i did a 100% water change and got 4 glowlight tetras and a black mystery apple snail. i've been testing twice a day for the past 5 days, and every day, the ammonia is below .25ppm, and the nitrites have been popping up to about 1.5ppm or so every 12 hours. so i've been doing about 50-75% water changes every 12 hours to keep the nitrites down.

well, i tested again lastnight, and now my ammonia is going up! it was .5 lastnight! what is going on with this stupid tank! how are my nitrites going so high so fast, and my ammonia going up now again too after being .25 or lower for almost a week.

[RockabillyChick]

ok, i guess i spoke too soon.

keep in mind that i did NOT do any water changes yesterday.

yesterday evening, my ammonia was about .50 and my nitrites were about .75

this morning i just tested again without doing any water changes, and my ammonia is now below .25 (not quite 0, but definately below .25) while my nitrites went down on their own to .5