Calab

I'm cycling my 10 gallon tank. I just tested my water using my API kit and one of the readings confused me... My Nitrites are reading 0, after 5 minutes the test liquid is blue. I still have Ammonia readings as well as Nitrate so there should be some Nitrites.

So, I pulled out my Hagen kit and testing Nitrites. At the two minute mark the liquid is deep pink. The closest that I can match is 1.6 for Nitrites.

Now I'm completely confused. Bottles shaken well. Kit instructions followed properly.

Here are my readings from my tank log. Does any of this look odd?

Code:

Date              Ammonia Nitrite Nitrate pH ml Added Second   Notes
                                             Ammonia  Reading
2008-05-31  0:00  1       5        2      8   ?       ?        .
2008-06-03  0:00  0       1        5      .  15       8+       .
2008-06-04  9:00  0       2        7      .  12       8+       .
2008-06-04 17:00  2       6        8      .   ?       ?        .
2008-06-05  9:30  1.5     0       10      .   4       4        .
2008-06-06  2:15  0.5     0        7      .   8       6        .
2008-06-07  4:00  2       0*       7      .   4       4        *Nitrite 1.6 using Hagen kit

capekate

Hi Calab
Is this log record, showing day one of your cycle? If it is, Im surprised that you showed nitrites and nitrates so quickly.
You should have shown just ammonia for awhile and zero on the others at first..
Unless this is in the middle of your cycle?

Your nitrites would be slowing down while your nitrates raise. This would be after you start to see your ammonia going down to zero. As it is, it looked like your ammonia test raised instead of decreased.
What are you using to 'feed' the tank? and is it a fishless cycle?

sirdarksol

It's odd that the ammonia dropped and rose again, especially if you have no nitrites.
As far as nitrates, did you do a water change that would account for the drop from ten to seven?

Calab

This was from about a week after I started cycling the tank. Also, the filter had been running with fish prior to my cycle, before I knew about the cycle.

Definately no fish in the tank now. I did do a 100% water change at the start of the cycle. I'm only adding pure ammonia. No water changes at all.

One thing about the API Nitrite tests... When I add the drops and mix, the liquid is definately a strong purple, but after five minutes (as per the instructions) the liquid is blue.

*sigh* There has to be a better way to do these tests.

Calab

Don't forget that I'm adding ammonia after each test. I'm going to standardize and add 8ml after each test now.

Definately no water changes, nor other chemicals added.

Oh well... I'll keep on top of it and post my new readings in a week or so.

sirdarksol

Yeah, it's just odd that the ammonia is going up and down like that. Usually it spikes, then drops and stays dropped.

I don't know what to tell you, other than "keep at it." There is some definite progress, if there are nitrates in the tank.

Calab

I just remembered that I had one test strip left, so I just stuck it in the water. Now I'm even MORE confused!

200+ppm Nitrate
Nitrite. Strip is SUPER purple
300ppm hardness
2.0ppm Chlorine <--- From where?
<40 Alkalinity
6.2 pH

I tried to take a shot with my cellphone, but it's not that great:

Calab

OK... I think I know what's happening. I think that my Nitrites are too high for the API test to work.

I put in 1ml of tank water + 4ml of tap water into the vial and did the test. This time the reading was 5ppm. So I REALLY have 25ppm of Nitrite.

I did the same for Nitrates and Ammonia as well. Nitrates = 10 x5 = 50ppm. Ammonia = 1 x5 = 5ppm

I think I'm going to double check my Nitrite/Nitrate readings this way for the next few tests.

Donpa

With the API nitrite test any color change indicates that nitrites are present. If you truly have 0ppm nitrites then there should be no reactions causing a color change, even a temporary one.

How much ammonia are you adding to the tank? Maybe the reason the ammonia rose again is because you added a little too much.

Oh the woes of cycling, during my cycle my ammonia never really spiked, but the nitrites did (confused the heck out of me ). I just had to stock REALLY slow to make sure the biofilter could keep up.

-edit- I just noticed you posted how much ammonia you added in your log. It looks like you may have added too much, which isn't a bad thing. It just means your biofilter will be stronger. Generally people only add a few drops of ammonia at a time rather than 10-15mL.