Confused

[Zachary1941]

Hi,
On the pinned article on fishless cycling..It tells us, if using the API test kit for nitrites and as soon as you put drops in test tube..They turn purple no need to shake and wait 5 mins as the colour will turn green which means the nitrites are off the chart..Mine does turn purple but after about a min it turns the shade of blue. (Which is zero Nitrites)..Nitrites did for a week read 5 then dropped to as it is now. The ammonia reads 0 and nitrates 40..Phd 7.6...now day 32 of cycle...Question are my nitrites Zero or still off the chart..Regards Zac

 

[Amunet]

That is off the charts color that you're getting.
If the color of the drops turns to that purple color before you even shake it up, then you still have a nitrite reading. If it eventually turns to the color you're describing, it's off the charts.

Here are a couple of examples of off the chart colors that I got for nitrites
(first test)

(middle)

 

[rotex5510]

I had this go on, too. Once my ammonia was processing, I started checking nitrites. I had 3, then 4, then 5 a couple of days, then it was blue, just like the color of 0, but the drops had turned purple first. (I ran the test on another tank to check, and the drops in that one stayed blue the whole time before settling at 0.) The next few days it was blue green and I realized it was just off the charts and there was no reason to start celebrating yet. Good luck.

 

[Zachary1941]

Thanks Guys,
Yep, from your replies its still off the chart (### lol) Regards Zac

 

[arobinson1984]

From my experience, if you get a colour that isnt on the card its one of two things:

1. Your reading is higher than the limit the test is designed to recognise.... or
2. You accidently added the incorrect amounts of drops. In the past I have found that even 1 too many or 1 too less can make a difference.

Andy