Api Says Everything At 0?

So I'm doing a fish-in cycle on a 10 gallon tank after some bad advice at the petstore. I added TSS plus after doing a bunch of water changes because the goldfish was getting ammonia burns and I wanted to speed things up so he wouldn't get hurt. It's been a little under a week since I added the TSS and everything is basically at 0. Prior to adding the TSS, I had 1 ppm ammonia and the tiniest amount of nitrite.

I used the API master kit yesterday and it gave ammonia between 0 and .25 ppm, but I also have the seachem alert in the tank and it says ammonia is "< .02" right now. Nitrite and nitrate also showed 0. I still have some test strips as well, so I did one of those and it said there was some small amount of nitrate in the water. I know the strips aren't supposed to be accurate compared to the liquid, but it's confusing that the test strip shows nitrate while the liquid doesn't. Previously the strips showed 0 as well, so it seems to at least be picking up a change that the liquid isn't.

Are my readings off simply because it hasn't been the two full weeks since adding the TSS? Or is there something strange going on that I need to be worried about? Or did I maybe get a bad batch of the nitrate test liquid? Right now there are only 2 marimo moss balls for plants in the tank, so I don't imagine they can be eating up all the nitrates.

And on a side note, yes, I know the tank is too small for the goldfish, and we do have plans to get a bigger tank before he outgrows the 10 gallon.

 

Shake up the second nitrate bottle before putting to the drops in and tell us if you get a different result. The nitrate test bottomless can become stagnant and need shaken up.

 

Shake up the second nitrate bottle before putting to the drops in and tell us if you get a different result. The nitrate test bottomless can become stagnant and need shaken up.

I always use my iphone's timer to make sure I shake for the full minute recommended in the directions--and give the bottle several good whacks against my other hand while shaking it!

 

Thanks! I'll test again tonight and see if it gives different results.

Any ideas on why the API test would give a small ammonia reading while the seachem alert would say basically 0? It says on the package that it takes only 15 minutes max to be accurate when ammonia goes up.

 

Because the seachem alert doesn't have the testing resolution.

 

Because the seachem alert doesn't have the testing resolution.

What do you mean? The measurements on it are all below .5 and the API kit is 0 or .25. I would expect the API test to show 0 when the seachem alert shows < .02. I'm not sure what you mean by resolution though.

 

I'm not sure what the accuracy of the seachem test is. I see what you are saying. I thought seachem read 0.2 and you had a typo then I looked at the instrument. It's likely then the API should be testing closer to the 0 color than the 0.25 color.

 

It's the other way around. Resolution is the measurement detection ability (it's where you can see a different result or measure a different result). The API test is the test with more resolution your ability to detect a different result. What you are seeing sounds like a test result on the API of .125 or in between the two colors.

Good to know, thanks! So is it safe to trust the alert? I got it because someone else on the forums recommended it.

 

See my corrected response above.

Also did you give the ammonia test 5 minutes to develop in the tube before judging the color with the API test?

 

Also did you give the ammonia test 5 minutes to develop in the tube before judging the color with the API test?

Yup! It had a little bit of green after 5 minutes, which seemed pretty dead-center between the color for 0 and .25.

The alert was also originally the pale blue color (I don't remember the measurement off-hand, but it's the second-lowest measurement) for the first couple days, but I didn't take it as a true reading since it says it can take a day or two to start reading properly. I think it was still pale blue on the third day and yellow on the 4th, and has been yellow since.

Either way it seems the ammonia is really low, but I prefer to be as accurate as possible.

 

Ok back to your original post you have 1 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank and think the tank is too small. That must be a quite large goldfish? Like 3"? and some plants. You probably do have trace amounts of nitrites and nitrates that just aren't measurable with the test kits yet.
If your goldfish is now about 1-2" he's only contributing like 20% tank load to bacteria at this point so your cycle will indeed be quite slow in time.

 

Ok back to your original post you have 1 goldfish in a 10 gallon tank and think the tank is too small. That must be a quite large goldfish? Like 3"? and some plants. You probably do have trace amounts of nitrites and nitrates that just aren't measurable with the test kits yet.
If your goldfish is now about 1-2" he's only contributing like 20% tank load to bacteria at this point so your cycle will indeed be quite slow in time.

The tank isn't too small yet, but I know it will be. He's maybe 3 inches with his tail. He cranked up the ammonia real fast though!

I measured a little nitrite before adding the TSS to the tank, while the strips showed a little nitrate at the same time, so the cycle did seem to be moving before the TSS. I just didn't want the little guy to get any more ammonia burns. Those are all gone now, thankfully.