Fishless Cycling with Fish Food

[jonawm]

Hi,

I am into my 9th day of cycling my 1 feet tank.
Using fish food as my ammonia source (since I cant get Ammonia anywhere), I had the following readings:

2nd day: ammonia 1, nitrite 1, nitrate 0
3rd day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 2, nitrate 10 (for some reason i am getting nitrate reading so soon I dont know why)
4th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 10
5th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 5 (nitrate down)
6th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 5
7th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 5
8th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 5
9th day: ammonia 0.25, nitrite 5, nitrate 10 (nitrate up again)

Have been using Seachem Stability.
Everything is new in the tank.
I have a number of moss in the tank
Water is distilled water (the NTUC one), top up once every 2 days due to evaporation
I have been adding a pinch of fish flake everyday (first 5 days I removed the previous day's food), then next 3 days, I left the previous day's food still in the tank while continue to add the food. The food are all sitting in those disposable teabags.

I have a few questions

1. Are my readings abnormal? Considering I am already getting nitrate in my 3rd day
2. Since I am already getting Nitrate, my nitrite should be going down right?
3. Am I doing it right? I read alot about getting the ammonia to 4ppm, maybe I am not getting enough ammonia? But then again I am already having a Nitrate reading, so I should just be adding smaller amount of ammonia while waiting for the Ammonia and Nitrite to go to zero right?

Please advice if any kind soul can and thanks alot

[skytan]

How big is your tank? Maybe too little ammonia to kick start?
For me i added a bunch of fish food till they stink and mouldy the following day and i replace with new fish food.
By right, the ammonia and nitrate should go away , while the nitrate surge and you would have to do a big water change to get rid of the nitrate.

[jonawm]

How big is your tank? Maybe too little ammonia to kick start?
For me i added a bunch of fish food till they stink and mouldy the following day and i replace with new fish food.
By right, the ammonia and nitrate should go away , while the nitrate surge and you would have to do a big water change to get rid of the nitrate.

Hi,

Its a 1 feet tank, just about 10L of water.
Yeah, thats what I thought about the ammonia, since I have never been able to get it over 1ppm.
I stopped increasing because mainly I am already seeing Nitrate readings, so it was just a matter of maintaining the fish food dosage and waiting for the ammonia and nitrite to go down.

I will continue to monitor since its just 9 to 10 days into the cycling process.
Question is, do I increase ammonia or not? My nitrite is already 5ppm