Api Nitrite Test

[**sarahp**]

I know its supposed to be simple but I am confused!!!! I'm sure I read a post on here from someone who said that if the water at the bottom of the test tube turns purple immediately you put the test drops in then your nitrIte levels are off into outer space somewhere (ok so I made that bit up - but they are very high!!)

Well thats what mine is doing atm, but if I leave it the full five minutes as the instructions say the final colour is a very pale purple - ie 0.50 or 0.25 ppm

So do I have sky high nitrItes or very low ones - its very confusing this fish business

 

[orange shark]

you have to leave it for the full 5 minutes

 

[ebrcknrdg]

I know its supposed to be simple but I am confused!!!! I'm sure I read a post on here from someone who said that if the water at the bottom of the test tube turns purple immediately you put the test drops in then your nitrIte levels are off into outer space somewhere (ok so I made that bit up - but they are very high!!)

Well thats what mine is doing atm, but if I leave it the full five minutes as the instructions say the final colour is a very pale purple - ie 0.50 or 0.25 ppm

So do I have sky high nitrItes or very low ones - its very confusing this fish business

i guessing that the dark purple colour at the bottom is just when the drops have fallen to before you shake the tube

 

[**sarahp**]

OK - well I've just done all my tests again and the NitrIte test has gone green!!! Its a perfect match for the 6.8 marker on the ph card - but unfortunately nothing like any of the nitrIte colours!! What am I doing wrong???

 

[ebrcknrdg]

OK - well I've just done all my tests again and the NitrIte test has gone green!!! Its a perfect match for the 6.8 marker on the ph card - but unfortunately nothing like any of the nitrIte colours!! What am I doing wrong???

Not trying to insult your intelligence but are you sure you used the Nitrite bottle and didnt get it mixed up with the PH one?

 

[**sarahp**]

Absolutely positive - cos I did it twice cos I thought I may have used the wrong one too!!!

 

[Robris]

I think it means your nitrite levels are through the roof, like above and therefore the color is not on the card. What are your readings for ammonia and nitrate?

 

[xxBarneyxx]

As far as i know the API Nitrite kit should have a blue/purple indicator liquid. Just to make sure are you use the same tube for different tests? There could be two chemicals mixing to throw off the results.Try doing a test on your tap water and seeing what the results are, I think after 5 minutes it should show as blue indicating no nitrites present (I would assume your tap water is nitrite free).

I think it means your nitrite levels are through the roof, like above and therefore the color is not on the card. What are your readings for ammonia and nitrate?

Yeah that would make sense too. You could test by using 50% tank water and 50% tap water in the test then double whatever reading you get.

 

[**sarahp**]

I think it means your nitrite levels are through the roof, like above and therefore the color is not on the card. What are your readings for ammonia and nitrate?

6ppm ammonia is being coverted to 0ppm in about 8 hours, ana nitrAte is about the same as my normal tap water - so I reckon your theory could be right. Ammonia has been dropping to zero consistently for about 3 days now so I suppose the time is right for the nitrIte spike to occur and this would also account for the lack of nitrAtes so far.

Think I'll email API tomorrow just to find out if this has happened before or if they know what is goiing on

 

[djceri_g]

OK - well I've just done all my tests again and the NitrIte test has gone green!!! Its a perfect match for the 6.8 marker on the ph card - but unfortunately nothing like any of the nitrIte colours!! What am I doing wrong???

Ive heard somewhere on this forum a couple of weeks ago that this happened when the nitrAte goes well over the chart! Aint tooo sure though but someone had the same problem, why don t you telephone the helpline on the testing kits booklets

 

[rdd1952]

OK - well I've just done all my tests again and the NitrIte test has gone green!!! Its a perfect match for the 6.8 marker on the ph card - but unfortunately nothing like any of the nitrIte colours!! What am I doing wrong???

This has come up before and someone actually emailed API about it. During a fishless cycle, the nitrite gets so high that there literally isn't a color for it. When you add the drops, the nitrite is so high in the tube that they immediately turns purple in the bottom of the tube. When I was cycling, that's all I ever saw. The bottom turned purple and I poured out the solution as I knew my nitrite was still off the chart. No need to dhake and wait 5 minutes, you already have your answer.

 

[**sarahp**]

OK - well I've just done all my tests again and the NitrIte test has gone green!!! Its a perfect match for the 6.8 marker on the ph card - but unfortunately nothing like any of the nitrIte colours!! What am I doing wrong???

This has come up before and someone actually emailed API about it. During a fishless cycle, the nitrite gets so high that there literally isn't a color for it. When you add the drops, the nitrite is so high in the tube that they immediately turns purple in the bottom of the tube. When I was cycling, that's all I ever saw. The bottom turned purple and I poured out the solution as I knew my nitrite was still off the chart. No need to dhake and wait 5 minutes, you already have your answer.

Yeah I just phoned the helpline on the pack - and yep - it means that there is no colour toshow how high my nitrItes are - they are sooooooo far off the scale I've confused the chemicals

Buuuuuut on a positive note - if I've got my nitrIte spike I'm not that far off cycled

 

[rdd1952]

You're getting close. The main reason it takes so long for the nitrite to drop is that it gets ridiculously high. I wouldn't venture a guess as to how high but if you stop and think about it, it starts to make sense.

After the ammonia starts to process quickly, you are probably adding 4 ppm of ammonia twice a day so once that processes into nitrite, you are adding 8ppm of nitrite a day. And since the bacteria to process nitrite develop slowly plus the fact that you are adding so much nitrite in the form of processed ammonia, it sky rockets. I guess it would compare to adding 8 ppm of ammonia a day from the start. It wouldn't be long before you had 50ppm or more of ammonia before the bacteria could really start to clean it up.

 

[**sarahp**]

You're getting close. The main reason it takes so long for the nitrite to drop is that it gets ridiculously high. I wouldn't venture a guess as to how high but if you stop and think about it, it starts to make sense.

After the ammonia starts to process quickly, you are probably adding 4 ppm of ammonia twice a day so once that processes into nitrite, you are adding 8ppm of nitrite a day. And since the bacteria to process nitrite develop slowly plus the fact that you are adding so much nitrite in the form of processed ammonia, it sky rockets. I guess it would compare to adding 8 ppm of ammonia a day from the start. It wouldn't be long before you had 50ppm or more of ammonia before the bacteria could really start to clean it up.

Yeah that makes perfect sense At the moment I've given up testing my ammonia everyday cos I know its consistently dropping, I just keep adding 20mls morning and night Until I see a change in the NitrIte levels theres no point getting excited. But like I say - at least I know something is happening.

Once the nitrItes do drop back to zero, how many days of adding ammonia and watching for it and nitrite to drop back to zero in the 12 hours or less mark should I do to be sure that my tank is fully cycled and can cope with a 75-100% fish stock? I was thinking a week to be on the safe side - what do you think?

 

[rdd1952]

You won't see but one change in nitrite. One morning it will be off the chart and that evening when you test again, it will be zero. It literally does drop that quickly. Once again it makes sense that it would happen that way. If you figure that the bacteria are doubling every 24 hours or so, and say by the time it is almost there, there is 30ppm of nitrite left. If at that time there is enough bacteria to process 15ppm in 12 hours, then one more doubling would handle the full 30 so it would fall to 0.

Once it does, I would add ammonia again as usual. The ammonia and nitrite should both be back to 0 in about 12 hours as there should be plenty of bacteria to handle it. It definitely shouldn't take a week. Actually, on the nitrite side, there will be the most bacteria present the day it finally drops back as they have been processing the huge amount that has been present.