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I had begun my 20 gal tank on Monday May 28 and y'all have been kind enough to help with stocking and cycling comments and suggestions. It contains 4 small tiger barbs.

Here's the chem test results:

Nitrate: 0-20 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Hardness Moderate: (120 ppm)
Alkalinity: 300 ppm
pH: 8.4

Ammonia: .25 ppm

This is pretty much where the numbers have urn since I started the tank 9 days ago. The temp tonite was 76, which is down a few degrees with the cooler weather. It had been running up near 80 degrees.

I use test strips (I know, y'all said those are not so good.)

Monday evening, I added two more capfulls (per the directions) of "Bio-Boost" It's supposed to help quickly boots the nitrogen cycle and help maintain a healthy aquarium. For maintenace after the first two weeks I am supposed to add a capful weekly. It contains enzymes and bacteria that break down waste and ammonia...

Whaddya all think? I added an inch of water with a splash of conditioner the nite we put in the rocks, plants and barbs but other than that, no water changes or cleaning of the gravel with the sucker upper thing. The tank has been crystal clear, no algae or gunk thus far.

Comments?

Looks low. Have you been feeding them? Otherwise I'd kinda lean toward your tests being off at least a little. I would expect at least .5 and probably more like 1ppm ammonia after 9days.

I'd also watch that heater. Having the temp go up and down is bad. If the room does not remain a constant enough temp to keep the tank within a couple degrees all the time then your going to need a better heater. Something that can measure the temp of the tank and turn on or shut off instead of just putting out a constant level of heat. I had to keep a tank at 84F because the room it was in would go from 68F to 86F in the winter due to the amount of windows and sunlight it received. Even if the fish prefer the other temperature that the tank changes to they will get sick(mine got severe ich) if the temp changes more than a couple degrees in a day.

I had turned the heat down a little past where the light went off. When I saw that the temp had risen I thought about turning the heater to where the light just barely came on and watch what that does.

As far as the ammonia levels, could the bio-stuff be doing its job? We feed them every evening around the same time. I am assuming that as the Ammonia levels begin to rise (which they have just a bit from when we started, last nite was the highest they have been) the nitrite will rise in response, which will then lead to the nitrate levels rising, thereby lowering the ammonia in the end and balancing the tank properly, yes?

In the end that's what happens but nitrites don't show up for weeks and then sometimes nitrates take another couple weeks. The entire thing can take 4-6weeks and occasionally longer. If your additive is working then you should see nitrites sooner. If there's no nitrites it's not doing anything. The problem is while waiting around for the nitrite bacteria to start converting ammonia the ammonia can build to toxic levels. That's when you have to do water changes to dilute it so the fish will live until the somewhat less toxic nitrite phase. Usually unless you are cycling with a very small amount of fish you would not feed the fish at all or only every few days to keep the ammonia low. If you are adding food daily then by now I would expect more than .25 ammonia. That means the cycle is just getting started and at 9days it should be farther along than that. My guess would be either the ammonia test is off or your additive is working and your getting nitrites but the test strip isn't showing them at all.

I sure do appreciate your feedback. I do intend to switch over to the liquid tests as I have heard that the strips aren't as accurate. And maybe the 4 little tiger barbs just aren't making enough waste/ammonia either...