Help Me Solve My Mystery

[lisa2701]

Hi everyone,

I bought a second hand tank a few days ago and it came with a filter. Now, according to the woman, the filter had been cycled, she didn't clean it as I asked her not to and the fish were only removed from the tank a few hours before I collected it. The filter was still wet when I installed into the tank again. I have been dosing with ammonia to check the filter is cycled and for the first 24-36 hours the filter was processing the ammonia like a dream... I was so excited as this obviously meant I could get fish sooner than expect....however...the last 24 hours ish there seems to have been a stall... Here are the readings.

12th @ 9pm
Dosed ammonia up to 4ppm (only meant to do 3 but calculated wrong)

13th @ 9AM
Ammonia: 0.5
NItrate: 0.00
NitrAte: 0.00 (dosed back to 3 ppm)

13th PM
Ammonia: 0.5
Nitrate: 0.00
Nitrate: 0-5 (dosed up to 2-3ppm)

14th AM
Ammonia: 1ppm
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0 (left to process remaining ammonia)

14th PM
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5-10

15th Am (today)
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10

15th (approx 9 hours later)
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 10


So as you can see the first couple of days the ammonia was being processed like a dream, THEN, in the last 24 hours its all stalled. Can anyone advise what is going on, where I have gone wrong and how to fix it please?
(

 

[cambojnr]

Hi everyone,

I bought a second hand tank a few days ago and it came with a filter. Now, according to the woman, the filter had been cycled, she didn't clean it as I asked her not to and the fish were only removed from the tank a few hours before I collected it. The filter was still wet when I installed into the tank again. I have been dosing with ammonia to check the filter is cycled and for the first 24-36 hours the filter was processing the ammonia like a dream... I was so excited as this obviously meant I could get fish sooner than expect....however...the last 24 hours ish there seems to have been a stall... Here are the readings.

12th @ 9pm
Dosed ammonia up to 4ppm (only meant to do 3 but calculated wrong)

13th @ 9AM (12 hours later) (12 hours) 13th PM
Ammonia: 0.5ppm Ammonia: 0.5ppm
Nitrite:0 -----> Nitrite: 0.0ppm
Nitrate:0 Nitrate: 0.0ppm
(dosed up to 3ppm) (dosed up to approx 2ppm)

14th AM 14th PM
Ammonia: 1.0ppm (12 hours) Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0.0ppm -----> Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0ppm Nitrate: 0
(did NOT dose) (did not dose - wanted to see how long it'd take to clear)

15th AM (today) (9 hours) 15th
ammonia: 0.25ppm ------> Ammonia: 0.25
nitrite: 0.0ppm Nitrite: 0.00ppm
Nitrate: 10.0ppm Nitrate: 10.0ppm

So as you can see the first couple of days the ammonia was being processed like a dream, THEN, in the last 24 hours its all stalled. Can anyone advise what is going on, where I have gone wrong and how to fix it please?
(

how has it stalled? you see nitrate which is the end product of the cycle which can only be removed by water changes so you are cycled.

 

[slimeneo]

Is there anything in the tank? (plants, decor, anything) and did you add any chemicals to the water (dechlorinator, prime etc.)?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

how has it stalled?

She cannot get rid of the last .25ppm of ammonia.

 

[lisa2701]

As AlmostAwesome said I can not get rid of the last 0.25ppm of ammonia.

I have Javafern, bogwood and a ornamental ship (all of which came with the tank - I can give pictures if needed?) I have treated the water with dechlorinator (interpret tap safe).

 

[cambojnr]

how has it stalled?

She cannot get rid of the last .25ppm of ammonia.

is it not just the way you are looking at the test as when i look at mine in my room it looks like 0.25ppm but when i got outside it is 0ppm

 

[lisa2701]

Apologise for the lay out of the information - it did not look like this when I posted. I will correct it ASAP!! Give me 5 minutes to correct it so its more readable

 

[lisa2701]

how has it stalled?

She cannot get rid of the last .25ppm of ammonia.

is it not just the way you are looking at the test as when i look at mine in my room it looks like 0.25ppm but when i got outside it is 0ppm

I've looked at it in different lights, my kitche light is VERY bright and it still looks like 0.25. Haven't thought to take it outside though. My husband agrees 0.25. Again I could do it and post a pic for opinions if it helps?

 

[cambojnr]

how has it stalled?

She cannot get rid of the last .25ppm of ammonia.

is it not just the way you are looking at the test as when i look at mine in my room it looks like 0.25ppm but when i got outside it is 0ppm

I've looked at it in different lights, my kitche light is VERY bright and it still looks like 0.25. Haven't thought to take it outside though. My husband agrees 0.25. Again I could do it and post a pic for opinions if it helps?

when its sunny try our not raining look at it outside, pictures will give diffrent colours depending on camera.

 

[Essjay]

Fluorescent lights, which include energy saving bulbs, can make the water in the test tube look greener than it really is, though it doesn't affect the colour chart. That's why it is often recommended to compare the colours in daylight, or under an old fashioned light bulb if you have any.

Do you have any bottled water in the house that you know is ammonia free to test and see what colour that goes? Bottled rather than tap water as that can have tiny amounts of ammonia in it.

 

[lisa2701]

This morning and afternoon I stood at my livingroom window to look at it, it was 0.25. To be fair, it was a fluorescent light I was looking under tonight. I will go do it again and use a normal bulbed light to check it. Give me 10 minutes and we will see what happens

 

[lisa2701]

Ok so done another test and looked at it under a normal bulb. Still looks .25 ... however... I hadn't washed out the test I done earlier (may 2-3 hours ago), which at the time looked like .25, but now it looks like 0. I am leaving them 5 minutes to develop as advised to by the instructions. Should I leave it longer to develop?

EDIT: So it now (10 minutes after test was done) looks between 0-0.25. Am I just reading the test too early?

OH and under my kitchen light it DOES look MUCH greener

 

[Electric Warrior]

I have also had a difficult time reading the test between zero and .25ppm. The only thing I have concluded is that in most light the zero def looks yellow... Any tint of green, and I would believe that there is a presence of some ammonia. After cycling a tank for about 7 weeks now, I am have concluded that the yellow is straight up yellow, no question. And yes, I always get the best results outside, up against a white background.

 

[lisa2701]

At least I am not the only one, I was starting to feel really silly . Ok so it now looks much closer to 0 than .25 but there is still a hint of green (but its been 25 minutes since I done the test?)


My nitrates are between 10-20 . Nitrites are 0 as always.

EDIT: SO should I dose ammonia again tonight up to 1-2ppm or should I wait and see what its like in day light tomorrow?

EDIT: Just checked the ammonia test from earlier, its very much yellow thus 0ppm. confusing

 

[lisa2701]

So i've been doing some searching and reading about the API tests. I have found that the .25 ammonia reading problem is a common one. Apparently, if you don't properly dry your test tubes in between tests (I'm guilty of this) then you get a false reading of .25 but if you dry your test tubes properly then you get an accurate reading.