Hi all just wondering if you could give me some advice as I'm abit unsure.

I set my tank up on Tuesday (3 days ago). New sand, fake plants existing fake log from last set up with complete water change. I even steamed cleaned the tank and it was left completely empty for about a week. I left the filter as it was to see if it would help cycle the tank.

I have gotten the API teat kit today and done all the tests as I have never used one before doing it step by step. I didn't expect to get results anywhere near what I got. Can this be right so early in a new set up?

PH 7.6 highest colour in test.

High range PH 8.0/8.2 was bit unsure between the two colours.

Ammonia 0ppm/0.25ppm again bit unsure.

Nitrate 20ppm.

Nitrite 0ppm.

Dose this look normal? I will do tests again tomorrow and see if I get same results. I'm new to tropical fish so still learning and trying to get my head round it all lol
Thanks for reading and sorry it's quite long.

Hi and welcome

There's no way a tank would cycle in 3 days. As your ammonia reading is zero I assume you haven't added any ammonia to your tank? In which case you have nothing more or less than a tank full of 3-day-old water. In order to do a fishless cycle you need to be adding ammonia to the tank to simulate fish waste, allowing the development of the bacteria which will process the waste. Without ammonia as a food source nothing will happen. Check out our fishless cycling article for more info on how to do this. If you have added ammonia to the tank and you're still getting a zero reading then you're either doing the test wrong or you've got a faulty test kit.
Your nitrate reading of 20ppm will be what's present in your tap water.
I assume the filter was not running during the week the tank was empty? In which case the bacteria would have died off so it would have no effect on cycling.

Yea that makes sense. I wasn't sure if leaving the filter waste in from before I emptied the tank would help or not. I have been putting a bit of fish food in but think I will go down the Ammonia route as it looks more successful. Thanks for help James15.

Yes definitely use ammonia rather than fish food. The fish food method is unreliable as it takes a few days for the food to break down and start producing ammonia, which would also explain your readings. Most fish food is actually designed to resist decay so uneaten food doesn't pollute the water. Using ammonia for cycling means dosage is instant and accurate, so much quicker and easier.

Yeah I will defo do that. I didn't know that about fish food. Cheers.

I bought filter boost from pets at home the other week as I was told by the fish bloke he cycled he's tank in about a week and it's OK to put fish in this early but after reading up abit and getting advise from people on here I think I just wasted £7. Live n learn hopefully I can still use it at some point.
Thanks for the help appreciate it.

You're quite right those filter start products are useless. And as you've just discovered it's often not a good idea to rely on the advice they give you in shops...the advice some of them give is shocking!