Cycling Questions

[FingersofFish]

So I have just begun cycling my first tank, followed the guide I the begginers resource centre and have dosed ammonia, and tested ammonia levels 1 hour later.

API test kit has given me a reading of 0.

I dosed 2ml 9.5% ammonia in 63 litres of water it give 3.0 ppm.

Is there something I'm missing here?

 

[Ninjouzata]

Odd.. Did you do the test correctly? Not trying to imply anything but might be good to try it again just to be sure.

 

[FingersofFish]

I will try again just to check but I'm pretty sure I did it right. As for pH what 8.00 seems high, should this settle down?

 

[Ch4rlie]

Ph of 8 is not high really.
 
Do you have any plants on that tank?
 
And would wait and see what your results are second time round before going any further.

 

[FingersofFish]

I have a few plants yes, 3 or 4 large ones in the background and some mid ground/java fern on wood.

Will test again in next hour and post the results hopefully it's more realistic.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

A few things- you have to place the tubes against the white background or there is no was for use to make sense of the colors.
 
It looks like too much liquid in the ammonia tube but hard to tell.
 
What dechlor are you using and how much before the test did you put it into the water.

 

[FingersofFish]

I use Prime and I added the prime prior to adding water to the tank.

I retested last night and got a reading of 3.0-4.0 so roughly 3.5ppm.

 

[daizeUK]

Maybe you forgot to add the second reagent?  I've done that before and wondered why readings were zero!

 

[FingersofFish]

I think i probably put reagent 1 in twice! Rookie error.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Also,
 

 
A salicylate based kit can be used, but with caution. Under the conditions of a salicylate kit the ammonia-Prime complex will be broken down eventually giving a false reading of ammonia (same as with other products like Prime®), so the key with a salicylate kit is to take the reading right away. However, the best solution ;-) is to use our MultiTest: Ammonia™ kit... it uses a gas exchange sensor system which is not affected by the presence of Prime® or other similar products. It also has the added advantage that it can detect the more dangerous free ammonia and distinguish it from total ammonia (which is both the free and ionized forms of ammonia (the ionized form is not toxic)).

from http/www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html
 
What the above means to me is that if one is using Prime to help with ammonia is that one should get a 0 reading if the Prime is working when you test soon after it has been dosed. Over the next 24 hours the dynamics change.

 

[FingersofFish]

Interesting to read that I haven't heard it mentioned before, will certainly take that into account when I next test. Not sure it would have been responsible this time though as the prime was added a good 30+ hours prior to the ammonia and test.