Help Reading Nitrite Levels

hello! first time poster over here with a cycling/API test kit question.

i've been cycling a 10 gallon tank for almost a month and I think i'm nearing the end because the ammo is dropping really quickly, which is exciting. I always have trouble interpreting the colors on the card vs. the colors of the tested water, though, specifically with nitrItes. maybe a personal problem? not sure.

would someone mind guiding me re: how to interpret the two nitrIte levels in this picture and, for good measure, the ammo in the other? they're from today and in both pictures, the sample on the left is from 7am and the sample on the right is from 2pm, so a 7hr difference. the ammo went from 4.0 to 0.25 overnight last night, so I dosed it up at 7am this morning. here's how I read them. please tell me if you disagree:

left samples from 7am:
ammo: 8.0 - taken after dosing it up from 0.25... I was aiming for 4.0 but dosed it up a bit too high on accident
nitrItes: 2.0 - taken BEFORE I dosed the tank up with ammonia

right samples from 2pm:
ammo: 2.0
nitrItes: 1.0 (but maybe 5.0? definitely different from the sample this morning...)





maybe it doesn't really matter because now that the ammonia's dropping and i'm dosing it up frequently i'm just waiting for both to go away within a 24hr period.

thanks!

 

Since you are nearing the end of this cycle if I were you I would only dose the ammonia up to 2 until the cycle is complete. My reasoning behind this is the fact that you have a 10 gallon tank. With that size I don't think you can add enough fish for them to produce that much ammonia daily. Dosing it up to 2 will grow enough bacteria to handle the load your fish will be adding. The amount of ammonia you are adding every day may be overwhelming your nitrites and preventing them from processing over to nitrates.

Have you tested for nitrates? If you are seeing them it will be farther proof that your cycle is almost done. Personally I never stress over which purple I see in the nitrite tests. As long as I see anything other than that sky blue I know the cycle isn't complete. Once this tank hits a perfect balance you will see that blue. Until that happens continue dosing the ammonia daily if it goes back down to .25 daily. Once the tank hits a perfect balance you will see 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and some nitrates.

 

makes perfect sense, mattgirl. I'll take your advice and only dose the tank up to 2ppm from now on. thank you!

re: nitraAtes, I tested them on monday and they were off the charts so I did a 50% water change and dosed the ammonia back up. even after that, they were still at or above 160ppm, so the next day I did another 50% water change followed by an ammonia dose to get the levels back up to 4ppm and I *think* that second water change finally got the nitrAtes to between 80 and 160ppm.

tag on question - i'm also cycling a 20 gallon (super stoked on fish, apparently), and it's a little behind the 10 gallon but I do see both Ites and Ates. should I reduce the ammonia dose-ups to 2ppm for that tank, too, or is that a big enough size to merit 4ppm?

 

I would lower the dose on the 20 too. You don't want to overwhelm the cycle on either tank. If it were me I would do another water change and try to get those nitrates lower. I would be shooting for no more than 40/80 (they look the same to me). Cycling is a matter of getting the perfect balance. One thing higher than it needs to be tends to slow other things down. You could very well see those nitrites drop like a stone if you get the nitrates down.

I know folks don't normally do much in the way of water changes during a fish-less cycle but sometime just waiting for something to happen causes a stall 'specially if one or more of the elements is way over where it should be.

 

ok. I'll lower the 20 gallon dose, too, and water change until the nitrates are 40/80. thanks so much! excited to be close to done with the cycles!

also I probably should have specified that I was doing a fishless cycle, but I guess you figured it out through context clues. thanks again.

 

You are so very welcome. Please let me know how it is going.

 

You are so very welcome. Please let me know how it is going.

hI again - ok, 3 (!) 60-70% water changes later in the 10g, I think I finally got the nitrAte levels down. do you agree with my interpretations?

left: 10 gallon - 40-80
right: 20 gallon - 80-160 (might need to do a water change for this one)

 

It looks to me like you are correct. I am not seeing the deep burgundy one would see at much over 80. Now it is just a matter of waiting to see that beautiful sky blue you want to see in your nitrite test tube. Once that happens you will want to do enough water changes to get the nitrates at or below 20. If I see a hint of orange in the tube I consider it close enough.

 

cool. thank you! i'd love to ask your opinion about my stocking ideas. should I start a different thread with that sort of title? not sure of the 'rules' here yet.

 

cool. thank you! i'd love to ask your opinion about my stocking ideas. should I start a different thread with that sort of title? not sure of the 'rules' here yet.

You are very welcome. You would probably get more answers if you started another thread for stocking help. There are folks here that know a lot more about that than I do and I am sure they would see a stocking thread and can help you out.