New 10 Gallon (update)

Question
Chris,
My new 10 gallon has had no ammonia and no nitrites for over three weeks. Yesterday I changed 30% of the water and cleaed the tank really well. I cleaned the glass, washed all the platic plants, rinsed out my air accessory. I removed the heater, thermometer and Flugal 3 and cleaned all. While I washed the filter, I pulled out the filter pad and temporarily put it in the old aquarium water that I removed for the water change. Today my ammonia is back up to .50 ppm. Still no nitrites. It took 10 weeks to cycle the tank. I'm really starting to loose patience. Is the ammonia supposed to come back - just by cleaning the tank?
I have 6 one inch fish and 2 two inch fish. Feeding flakes every other day and some freezedried bloodworms as a treat every now and then.  Am I doing something wrong?

Answer
Hi zlee1;

I think it probably has already broken-in but you overcleaned it. (Oops!) Too much cleaning kills some of the beneficial bacteria that consumes the ammonia and nitrite. The beneficial bacteria lives on all tank and filter surfaces. On each piece of the gravel, on the decorations and even on the heater and inside of the filter box itself. Only replace 25% or less of the water at a time and leave the filter alone if you need to clean the tank so vigorously. The "slimy stuff" that you feel on those things was where the beneficial bacteria were living. Give it a couple of days to recover and measure again. It may take a week or so to settle down.

To see if it did actually cycle, test the nitrAtes (not nitrItes, they are different). It would be good to see some nitrates in there but sometimes it take 3 months for a new tank to show any. You don't want it over 40ppm, but a little bit is good to show that things are moving right along. Nitrate is the end result of the biological filtration process. It's the main reason we do 25% water changes every week.

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins