The bacteria in a bottle option is basically an instant cycle method vs adding food or a piece of shrimp to the tank and letting nature take it's course. So when you dump the bottle in you need to add fish. If you don't add fish right away but add the bacteria that bacteria needs to be fed. If there wasn't a consistent source of ammonia added frequently, like daily to every other day, and weeks had gone by without adding any the bacteria most likely went dormant when there wasn't anything else for it to feed on. The NO3 you're seeing is most likely from when the bacteria had finished processing the initial ammonia you put in and the NO4 is from that bacteria going active again after what you just added. Algae need NO3 & PO4 to grow and there should be no PO4 in the tank unless it was in/on the dry rock you added. That being the case there won't be any algae that will grow until you add fish and start feeding them as that food is where the phosphorus & phosphate will come from. So we'll need to get the NO3 down before you get to that point to help mitigate the algae explosion that usually happens with all new tanks.
I would not add more Biospira or someone's live rock to the display right now unless you're ready to add fish and not going to QT them. With a the total volume you have you'll need almost 13ml of ammonia (250 drops! Much easier to add by doing ml's) to reactivate the bacteria whether it's what's in the tank already or what you add from the new bottle. (I'd add that bottle when you're ready to add the fish as some of the initial bacteria died off.) That amount of ammonia will need to be added once or twice more to verify the bacteria is processing it correctly. If you're going to QT the new fish, get that tank setup and running using the info I shared with you previously. In the mean time just let the display to it's thing. A couple weeks before you're ready to introduce those first fish is when it's time to address this again and get the display ready. If you have QT'd fish and are ready to go let us know.
BTW, with that sized system you will be able to add 4-6 fish easily right from the start when using Biospira. I've put four fish in a 20L at the same time for QT using Biospria. A trigger, Kole tang, Starry blenny and an anthia, I didn't have an ammonia spike. And I feed heavy in QT.
I got the QTset up this evening, I already have a hob filter. I already have the thermometer and an ammonia badge. Im cleaning it now, and will have it filled with salt water this evening. I will order the light tonight from amazon. I was getting a bit lazy and was thinking of bypassing qt! So thank you for getting me back on track. I may go out to Nemos tomorrow and see what he has, someone on here said he usually receives a shipment on wednesdays but I have to work so we will see. I also picked up a 3inch tee and a 3in 90 degree elbow.
