lgarvey
Fish Crazy
Hi Guys,
I am currently doing a fishless cycle on my new 125litre tank using the correct ammonia from homebase. I test ammonia everyday and regularly test nitrites and nitrates.
Firstly, I am confused by how you match the colours from the test tubes to test card, with the API test kit. It says to use the white space on the test card to compare the test tube to the colour bands to determine the level. However, if I hold the test tube directly against the white strip it always looks a lot darker than when I lift the test tube say half an inch away from the white part of the test card. In the first instance, it looks darker because of a shadow created by holding it so close. But if I move it away it looks as though I'm seeing the true colour of the test tube.
But, with the ammonia, if I hold it against the white part of the test card it registers about a 7ppm. Yet if I have a bit of a gap between the test tube and the white part of the test card, it appears to be about 4ppm. Which one is correct?
OK. I've been fishless cycling for about 3-4 weeks and I don't seem to be getting nowhere. I boosted the ammonia up to 5ppm, left it for a few days, it remained grain. Then I had to go away for a week to do some work and when i got back I tested the ammonia and it had gone totally yellow -- great! The nitrites appeared to be at around 2-3ppm and the nitrates at around 20-40ppm.
At that time I added some live plants, some bogwood that had been soaking in water for several days, and a added an external filter and boosted the level of the water (with dechlorinated water) to compensate for the water that ended up in the new filter.
This was maybe two weeks ago and the ammonia appears to still be high. The nitrites and nitrates appear to be at a similar level too.
I have 3 theories: -
1. The ammonia processing bacteria processed all the ammonia and then died off in the time I was away for a week.
2. The added items, which were initially washed in chlorinated water, added enough chlorine to mess with the bacteria
3. Due to not being able to read the test kit, I may have a much higher PPM -- say 7+ppm and this is stalling the tank
IF anyone can shed any light on what may be happening and what can be done to rectify the problem, I'd really appreciate it. I'm also using Stability everyday, because the LFS recommended it. But from what i've read on the net, it's probably not worth much of anything.
Thanks
LG
I am currently doing a fishless cycle on my new 125litre tank using the correct ammonia from homebase. I test ammonia everyday and regularly test nitrites and nitrates.
Firstly, I am confused by how you match the colours from the test tubes to test card, with the API test kit. It says to use the white space on the test card to compare the test tube to the colour bands to determine the level. However, if I hold the test tube directly against the white strip it always looks a lot darker than when I lift the test tube say half an inch away from the white part of the test card. In the first instance, it looks darker because of a shadow created by holding it so close. But if I move it away it looks as though I'm seeing the true colour of the test tube.
But, with the ammonia, if I hold it against the white part of the test card it registers about a 7ppm. Yet if I have a bit of a gap between the test tube and the white part of the test card, it appears to be about 4ppm. Which one is correct?
OK. I've been fishless cycling for about 3-4 weeks and I don't seem to be getting nowhere. I boosted the ammonia up to 5ppm, left it for a few days, it remained grain. Then I had to go away for a week to do some work and when i got back I tested the ammonia and it had gone totally yellow -- great! The nitrites appeared to be at around 2-3ppm and the nitrates at around 20-40ppm.
At that time I added some live plants, some bogwood that had been soaking in water for several days, and a added an external filter and boosted the level of the water (with dechlorinated water) to compensate for the water that ended up in the new filter.
This was maybe two weeks ago and the ammonia appears to still be high. The nitrites and nitrates appear to be at a similar level too.
I have 3 theories: -
1. The ammonia processing bacteria processed all the ammonia and then died off in the time I was away for a week.
2. The added items, which were initially washed in chlorinated water, added enough chlorine to mess with the bacteria
3. Due to not being able to read the test kit, I may have a much higher PPM -- say 7+ppm and this is stalling the tank
IF anyone can shed any light on what may be happening and what can be done to rectify the problem, I'd really appreciate it. I'm also using Stability everyday, because the LFS recommended it. But from what i've read on the net, it's probably not worth much of anything.
Thanks
LG