What happened to my Ph and amonia?

I've used a cube of raw meat to cycle my tanks, no problem. Like Sarah, I'd also wondered if maybe it was a live plant decaying :D but you answered that question!
 
I brought a sample of tap water and tank water to the pet store today and they had a reading of 7.6 for the tap and 8.2 for my tank
 
Do you know whether you have hard water (high mineral content) or soft water? My water is around 8.2 because it's ground water with lots of minerals in it. It works just fine for axolotls.

Yes, you can use a tiny piece of meat instead of brine shrimp. Be sure it's not fatty.
 
my tap water is hard (there is some build-up in my kettle). As far as meat goes is it ok to use some 90/10 lean ground beef ?
 
Eve, that sounds fine.

As far as the ammonia, if your water is treated with chloramines at the drinking water plant, when you use dechlorinator, it breaks the chlor (chlorine) amine (ammonia) bond, causing a bit of ammonia in the tank. This is usually easily handled in a cycled tank, and shouldn't cause problems in the future, as long as the tank is properly cycled.
 
after almost a week of cycling here are my readings:
pH:8.4
amonia: 1.0
nitrite: 0
nitrate: 0
can anyone tell me if these look right?
when should I expect to see a nitrate reading?
I plan on adding a hidey hole this week is this going to change my readings?
Sorry about all the questions I just want to do things right by my axies (they are not in the tank yet, my fifth one just hatched today).
 
You'll start to see a nitrate reading in a couple of weeks if you're lucky. Once ammonia drops back to 0 and you get a rising nitrIte figure you shouldn't be too far off seeing a gradual rise in nitrates. It's a waiting game - time and patience are needed - it can seem like forever waiting for the tank to cycle.
 
I suggest two things as a baseline. Call your municipal water authority and ask for a copy of the most recent water repost. It will tell you everything you could ever want about your water. Secondly take 2 samples to your local fish store. One from your tank and one from your tap. Have them test both and write down the results. You should have a water testing log anyway as it can predict problems while they are still minor. I would also test the same samples with my home kit and compare the results. Perhaps your kit has old reagents. It is not unheard of for drygoods to sit on the shelf for a long time.
 
I finally have a nitrate reading

After about 3 weeks of not really bothering to test my tank I finally did tonight and here are my readings:
pH: 8.2
Amonia: 0 ppm
Nitrite :1.0 ppm
Nitrate: 5.0 ppm

Is this good?
Also I have added an airpump and a mesh top to try and lower temp. to 20ºC but it seems to stay at 22ºC, do I really need the mesh to increase evaporation?

Sorry about all the questions I just want to do right for my axies.
 
As long as your axies aren't in the tank, that temperature is fine. The mesh top is needed when you do have axies in the tank and use things like a fan blowing across the top, which helps cool it down by a couple of degrees. I don't think you need an airpump at this stage if you have no animals in the tank.

As for those readings they sound fine, they look like they're cycling. Leave the pH alone while the tank is cycling as your ammonia levels are fine, they're 0. Once your nitrIte levels drop back to 0, and nitrAtes increase more then your tank is cycled.
 
M axies are still larvae (around 2 cm) so I don't think they'll be going in the tank just yet :D. As for the air pump I figured I'd put it in to see if it would get the temp down and to let the other critters (dog mostly) used to the sound. I'm going to get a clip-on fan on my next trip to target or wal-mart if that will help.
 
I have tested my water again today and everything is the same as the 10th except for my Nitrates which are on the rise they are now at 10ppm.
Do those reading seem normal?
When should the nitrites go down?
 
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