Cycling: Nitrite drop, ammonia staying at .2?

[jmNoles]

I'm cycling a 72 gallon bow front using Dr Tim's and ammonia. Bought the tank from a guy on Facebook that hadn't been set up in ages, so the rock was no longer "alive." Initially dosed ammonia up to 4 ppm. Nitrites got super high last week and ammonia dropped to around .2 ppm. Today, nitrites are so low that they are almost unreadable, yet ammonia is still around .2 ppm. Nitrates are above 40, by the way.

Has this ever happened to anybody else? I'm using a Tropic Marin compact lab essentials test kit.

 

[Big G]

Very common for you to get low ammonia readings with these hobby grade test kits.

If your ammonia went up and then down, and then the nitrites went up and then down, and now your nitrates are high, your probably through the first cycle or pretty close. Usually takes about 30 days + - regardless of how you start the tank to go through it's first cycle.

Time for water changes to lower the nitrates.