Help. Screwed Up Tests?

[tim1]

Well, as some of you know I have been cycling my tank. I woke up this morning, and when I checked Ammonia and Nitrite I was pleased to find that both were at 0! Before it was just Ammonia. I then decided to check my Nitrates as well, but they came up as 0! I tried them again, and they came up as 0 again. How could this be?
I have 2 plants in my aquarium, 1 of them is kinda big. Here are my last 3 logs

May 8
7:33am Ammonia=0 Nitrite=5.0+ Nitrate=10-20 Ph=6.4 ---added 3.3ml ammonia

3:57pm Ammonia=0 Nitrite=5.0+ Nitrate=10-20 Ph=6.0-6.4 ---added .3ml ammonia so bacteria don't go too hungry

May 9
7:12am Ammonia=0 Nitrite=0! Nitrate=0!! Ph=6.2ish ---added 3ml ammonia

I use the API Master Test Kit.

Did I do anything wrong? I did a big water change May 7th to bring Ph up a bit, but it is still going down Might that be the problem?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

don't worry about the nitrate too much.

nitrate test kits are notoriously dodgy and the water change will have reduced the nitrate, the plants will also be using some up.

what's important for cycling is to know that the ammonia and nitrite tests are valid. so add your ammonia up to 5ppm, test it so you know that the test kit is definatley working and detecting ammonia when it's there, if both ammonia and nitrite test up as 0 after 12 hrs then your cycle is done. However it's always advisable to continue adding ammonia for a week or so afterwards as the period right after the cycle finishes can be unstable and sometimes you have a bit of a blip. keeping adding for a week just gives you a bit of extra security that the fish will be fine when you add them. and when you think that you may be keeping fish for the next 10 years+ waiting 1 week more is really nothing to sweat over.

 

[tim1]

OK, thank you. You saved me from going crazy. Yes, my ammonia shows up. I will be moving tanks(from my 10gal almost cycled) to a 25gallon as I am going to keep the 10 as a quarantine tank. Would this cause my tank to have another mini-cycle?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

when you say you're moving tanks, can you please explain exactly what you plan to do?

 

[tim1]

I plan on taking everything out of my current tank(a 10 gallon), except the heater and the gravel, and put it into a 25 gallon tank. I will be putting sand instead of gravel, and a new heater. My current filter is meant for a 50gal aquarium, so it will handle the new load.
I will put maybe 1/3 of the gravel into the new aquarium, and the rest I will put into a stocking and leave it on the bottom of the aquarium for a few days. Then I will take the stocking out.

Does this sound right? Is there anything else I should do?

 

[Miss Wiggle]

yeah sounds fine

i wouldn;t worry about the gravel, it contains v little bacteria, if you want sand in the new tank then just put new sand in.

keep adding ammonia up to 5ppm on the new tank for at least a week to make sure it's cycled, you may see a mini cycle but hopefully not.

 

[rabbut]

On that type of upgrade, a mini-cycle will probibly occur. Remeber that the filter cycles for the tank it is on, so if you are adding 1 ml ammonia daily, thats the amount the filter will process in 24hours. If you then add 2.5ml, the bacteria are still processing 1ml in 24 hours, unless they multiply. It shoud only take a couple of days for the bacteria to catch-up, but none the less the colonie will need to grow some more to accomodate the larger volume of water

All the best
Rabbut