Going Crazy - Testing My Water Parameters

Have had the tank for just under a month- currently fairly stocked with about 10 fish.

29 gallon - not planted (have fake plants)


I'm using the API freshwater kit and I'm consistently testing 0 for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates.
I'm so paranoid I'm testing twice a day. I've done my research and can tell you this:


- Yes i'm following the instructions for the test kit to a T
-My test kit is not expired (or even close to it)
-I bang the **** out of my Nitrate #2 bottle and shake the reagent bottle and the test tube for 1-2 minutes at least every time.


I used ATM colony to fish in cycle when I first got the tank - ammonia just barely spiked in the first few days, then went back down shortly.

Haven't done a water change yet (do I even need to lol?)


So frustrated. Mainly because I have no way of knowing if I'm cycled or not, but tbh everything seems fine fish are happy.

Would love to know when I can stop testing twice a day...

 

Hi! Stop testing twice daily. Pick the most suitable time of day for you and test once a day.

My only worry is your nitrates. If you've never seen nitrates in your tests, I suspect you're not cycled & you will see the cycling spikes of ammonia/ nitrite eventually.

What's your pH? Testing a theory here....

 

Grab a coffee cup of your water and take it up to a local pet store. Most will test your water for free. THat was you can figure out if the problem really is in your water or if it's with your test kit.

 

pH is 8.0

 

pH is 8.0

Have you tested your kH? If not, does your pH fluctuate or is it steady?

 

Have you tested your kH? If not, does your pH fluctuate or is it steady?

Haven't tested my kH, but Ph seems to be steady every time I test.


Thanks for all the replies and help so far guys!

 

I second the “pet store” idea.

If they agree with your test kit numbers, you can be confident.

If not, I guess you buy another test kit.

Great ideas above.

 

Yea - I'm most likely going to go this weekend and have the LFS take a look.

 

UPDATE:

I took my water samples to the LFS - and exact same reading - I actually laughed because they were just as stumped as I am - 0 readings for Ammonia, Nitrite and Nitrates. No plants in my tank.

It looks like I'm cycled - and I gotta say ATM Colony was amazing with this regard. It cycled so quickly that I've been scratching my head this whole time, wondering when the cycle would start lol

I doubled my stock level last week, and have been feeding regularly, every other day. No ammonia spikes or anything.

I guess my tank is an anomaly, but I'm not complaining.


My next question would be, If I have zero everything, is it even worth doing a water change?

 

No expert but as long as you test regularly and nitrates are below 20 ppm, I don’t see a need unless you need to top off the tank.

 

UPDATE:

Everything is still zero, fish are doing well. Feeding every other day.

I seem to be having a slight Diatom bloom, but I'm told this is actually normal and a sign of a newly cycled tank?


At this point I'm doubting whether or not I'll ever see any sign of ammonia/nitrites/nitrates, but to me this is good thing.


I technically don't need to change my water, but somehow "feel" I should. I've ready arguments for both. I almost feel like at this point if I do a water change, that would cause more stress than anything I else I could do or not do.


Thoughts?

 

If you have 0 nitrates and you don't have live plants you are not cycled. The nitrates are only removed by a water change and they only go down by the percentage of your water change.

Just my opinion but I would bet money your not cycled if you see no nitrates.

 

If you have 0 nitrates and you don't have live plants you are not cycled. The nitrates are only removed by a water change and they only go down by the percentage of your water change.

Just my opinion but I would bet money your not cycled if you see no nitrates.

Hmm.

How would it be possible then to have 0 Ammonia and 0 Nitrites this whole time, I have 10 fish in there, and have been feeding regularly. 0 water changes up till this point.

I had very slight ammonia spike in the first 4 days then since then everything's zero.

To top it all off, I've read several times that a diatom bloom often shows up in new-ish tanks, soon after the intial cycle.

 

Where did the nitrates go. The ammonia nitrite by-product is nitrates. You remove them with water changes. You did no WC. You have no plants. Either your not cycled or something is wrong with the testing. Hey just my opinion. But no nitrates equal not cycled.

 

Water changes aren't just to remove nitrates. There are trace minerals and other stuff in the water. Some will get used up as others will acululate. I'm lightly stocked so I only change about 25% monthly and it seems to keep my dissolved solids in line with my source water.

 

Hey David his numbers are 0,0,0 and believes he is cycled. No live plants, no water changes. I believe it is very very unlikely. I believe the testing is off. What's your opinion.

 

Hey David his numbers are 0,0,0 and believes he is cycled. No live plants, no water changes. I believe it is very very unlikely. I believe the testing is off. What's your opinion.

I hope you can see where my confusion stems from.

I know "having nitrates" is the classic indicator of a cycle being complete, but I did have the classic ammonia spike in the very beginning. I'm just confused because SOMETHING is eating the ammonia. I agree it usually should be converted to nitrate, but for some reason it isn't in my case.

I honestly don't think its the testing, I have a non-expired API kit, and my parameters have been verified by my LFS. Not sure what else to do to ensure my test is accurate (aside from buying another kit, which I won't, since they aren't cheap)

 

It doesn't sound right. Not sure why he isn't showing something. I get just a faint reading but I have a ton of floating plants. I guess my point was there is so much more to water quality than just ammonia, nitrites and nitrates.

 

I totally understand. The only thing that would make sense to me is the testing is not correct.

 

Any suggestions of what you would do? All the fish seem fine - I do want to add more, but am paranoid about not knowing if I'm truly cycled or not.

My Nitrates are pure yellow each time. I shake each reagent bottle vigorously, and bang #2 several times hard. I wait 5 minutes for the color to develop.

When the LFS tested my water, each test came back identical to what I get at home (pH, Ammonia, Nitrite, Nitrate).