Wow Input Please

[Alm0stAwesome]

this is my confused face lol

I'm not sure how the calculator told you to add no more BUT the next time your ammonia reads 0 you do need to add more. On the calculator it will have asked you how many litres or gallons your tank is then it will ask you what ppm of ammonia you want (change this to 3) and then it will tell you how many mL to add at the end.

At the bottom of the page here: http/www.fishforums.net/aquarium-calculator.htm I'm easy to confuse so it's probably not your fault lol

 

[Lady J]

Ok, 3.59 ml. I don't understand why it said 0 earlier because I gave the calculator the same information. I like your confused face---I feel I almost always live in a state of confusion. So, I'll test the water later and figure out what to do after adding a glug this morning.

Is glug a word?

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

haha, well glad we got that sorted! 3.5 is fine

 

[Lady J]

Thank you awesome! Out of curiosity I felt compelled to test right now to compare from 5-1/2 hours ago when I added a glug of ammonia.

Ammonia 2.0
Nitrites 0
Nitrates 5.0

Yesterday the nitrites were .25 and the nitrates were 5.0 So right at this moment the ammonia is still breaking down and I'm estimating will convert to nitrites by tonight; the nitrates should climb as well. If not by tonight then certainly by tomorrow.

The plants must be absorbing a lot of ammonia---it's the only explanation I can fathom due to adding so much ammonia this morning yet it's only reading 2 right now. What do you think?

 

[Lady J]

Conclusion after testing 3 times today:

8:00 am

Ammonia---->1.0
Nitrites--->.25
Nitrates--->5.0
Then added ammonia

1:30

Ammonia---->2.0
Nitrites--->0
Nitrates--->1.0

8:30 pm

Ammonia---->0
Nitrites--->.25
Nitrates--->60
4 ml. of ammonia added

Getting close I think!

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

These readings are a little weird to me but I didn't have plants in the tank when I cycled so it's a little different. The principles are the same though get double 0s for a few days and you're done

 

[Lady J]

Now I'm confused. I checked the water at 6:30 am. (10 hours after last night's test)

Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: .25
Nitrates: 5.0

4 ml. of ammonia added

Ok, last night the nitrates were measuring 60, this morning they are back down to 5.0 I tested twice. Where did the nitrates go? Are the plants consuming them? Even if the test kit is off then it is off for both readings.

Oh yes, it's not done yet because there is still a trace of nitrites---> .25

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

It's just that I would have thought the nitrites would go way higher but maybe your plants are stopping that from happening

Sorry i know I've asked before but is it the API test your using? Because the nitrate test is really inaccurate - you have to bang the second bottle against a hard surface for a good minute to make sure it's fully mixed up. Otherwise you get wacky results.

 

[Lady J]

Yes, I'm definitely getting wacky results. And yes, I'm using API; I'd rather use Salifert but they're so darn expensive and I would have had to order them and really couldn't wait before testing. But again, even if the results are wacky, they're both still wacky but we cannot negate the fact that they dropped significantly from last night? Please correct me if I'm wrong.

 

[Alm0stAwesome]

Well unless you banged the you know what out of the bottle for a while I think you should test again

 

[Lady J]

Ok, I shook the bottle vigorously but I'll try again and beat the crud out of the bottle.

 

[Lady J]

I shook the bottles till my arms hurt (I had shaken the bottles vigorously before) and no change whatsoever. The nitrates are 5.0 vs. last night when they were 60. My only guess is that the plants are using almost all of the nitrogen?