Reading The Test Results And Cycling

Hello,

This is my first post but I have been reading for awhile. I used to have several aquariums but got out of the hobby about 10 years ago.

My questions have to do with reading the test results. I may be color blind because I never think the colors really match. Here are my stats. I have a 60 gallon tank that I set up about 3 weeks ago. I am doing a fishless cycle and the ammonia I am using is pure. I am using seachem safe for my water conditioner and I used stability as well. I am keeping the water at 82 degrees. My ammonia has been going to zero for about a week and a half now but I still have nitrites and am not sure about the reading for nitrates as well. I think my reading is 0 ammonia, 5 ppm nitrites and 5 ppm nitrates. The ammonia I think is easy to tell but I am never sure on the other two. I will post a picture of my latest results.

I did a 50 percent water change the other day as well. Any help would be appreciated.

 

Your nitrites are sky high! Looks like 5 and your nitrates look to be between 5-10 holy smokes

 

Welcome to Fishlore!

Can you get a picture in better lighting?

 

Hopefully this is a better picture. I forgot to mention that my pH has consistently been 7.6 as well.

 

Hopefully this is a better picture. I forgot to mention that my pH has consistently been 7.6 as well.

View attachment 417177

Have you put beneficial bacteria in your tank?

 

Hmm, I would say, 0-0.25 is ammonia, 5ppm nitrites (not good but a good sign if cycling) and around 20 ppm nitrates.

 

Have you put beneficial bacteria in your tank?

Yes I used seachem stability per the directions on the bottle.

Hmm, I would say, 0-0.25 is ammonia, 5ppm nitrites (not good but a good sign if cycling) and around 20 ppm nitrates.

If I have 20 ppm of nitrates should I just do a large water change to bring down the nitrites?

 

Welcome! I hate trying to read the API kit and I've asked for the SERA kit for Christmas because I've heard it's much easier to read.

Anyway, it's so hard to read through unless you have a white back ground.

My best guess is

Ammonia <\=0.25
Nitrite between 1ppm and 5 (lol unhelpful)
Nitrate 5ppm (hardest to read in both photos)

If your BB are chewing through your ammonia, my suggestion is a 75-90% wc. My nitrites got stuck around 2ppm until I did that.

If your nitrite reading shoots down to 0 straight after, keep dosing ammonia & test daily. You should see a few nitrite blips up to .25-.5 in the next week before it finally settles.

I used SeaChem stability. I would see .2 nitrite in the morning, dose with stability, and back to 0ppm after work.

 

I'd agree with the above posts...

You could just change 50% of the water so your nitrites don't go too crazy.

Your cycle is 2/3 of the way done I'd say.

 

Thank you everyone for the replies. I will plan on doing a large water change tomorrow. Should I still be adding ammonia to the tank?

 

Thank you everyone for the replies. I will plan on doing a large water change tomorrow. Should I still be adding ammonia to the tank?

Yep... until you're cycled the BB need food (ammonia). Once you're cycled, you'll change your water so there's no residual ammonia or nitrite & add fish. Their waste & food will feed BB

 

Thank you everyone for the replies. I will plan on doing a large water change tomorrow. Should I still be adding ammonia to the tank?

No, do a large water change first, test and then re add ammonia while managing and not allowing ammo or nitrI levels to get that high. Nitrite at that level can stall off nitrobacter bacterial growth as high ammonia can stall off nitrosomona growth.

 

No, do a large water change first, test and then re add ammonia while managing and not allowing ammo or nitrI levels to get that high. Nitrite at that level can stall off nitrobacter bacterial growth as high ammonia can stall off nitrosomona growth.

Sorry my post was unclear. I meant after the wc

 

Ok so I did a 80-90 percent wc and the results look almost the same to me. I did the WC and added my seachem safe. I have not added stability yet. I did my test about 15 minutes after I did the WC.

I have tested my tap water previously and there are no nitrites in it. It took over 2 weeks for the nitrites to show up.

Any suggestions on what I should do?

 

How much Safe are you using?

 

How much Safe are you using?

I am using 1/4 teaspoon

 

Well the good news is that you have bacteria! I'm impressed with the amount of both nitrite & nitrate after your wc! Was gonna ask about your tap levels of both so you've answered that one, too.

I haven't used safe, only stability. If the stuff you've got is bacteria, then you shouldn't need both products. If not then do a double or triple dose of bacteria and test in the morning. That's my best hunch

 

I was in a similar boat and found that unless I kept the nitrites in check I wasn't really getting anywhere. I went through about 2 weeks of nothing much happening (ammonia going away quickly but sky high nitrites and nitrates, but nitrites never going down). I ended up starting to dose less ammonia and doing a daily 50% water change to keep the nitrites in check and once I started that I was fully cycled 3 days later.

 

The above few posts are good to go by. You are almost there, just do a some water changes.

I’d also look at getting a digital scale - you can get cheap ones online. 1/4 of a tea spoon is still too much Safe - especially just for the chlorine aspect. I know there are plenty of people who say you can’t overdose prime / safe etc, but the reality is you can. There is plenty of information on the Seachem forum regarding this. The main problem being o2 depletion.

I use Fraction (similar to Safe) in a powder form on my 240L and 340L, but use a set of digital scales. I use .2g and .3g for each tank - that is enough to remove what it needs to from my water.

 

The amount of Nitrites & Nitrates are incredible after a 80-90% WC!
I have no more suggestions here beyond what others have already said. It seems you'll need doing large WCs for some days.
Please let keep us updated.
Good luck.

 

So I did a fifty percent water change yesterday and my test results looked about the same. I did a 75 percent wc today and I believe my results are as follows. Ammonia 0-.25, nitrites .25 and nitrates 5 ppm. I would appreciate any thoughts or insight. I may have to invest in the more expensive kit because I have a really hard time reading the results.

 

Grass is always greener, my ammonia is always 0.5 ppm and I can't get ANY nitrites. I'd kill for just a smidge of nitrites.

 

I was in a similar boat and found that unless I kept the nitrites in check I wasn't really getting anywhere. I went through about 2 weeks of nothing much happening (ammonia going away quickly but sky high nitrites and nitrates, but nitrites never going down). I ended up starting to dose less ammonia and doing a daily 50% water change to keep the nitrites in check and once I started that I was fully cycled 3 days later.

I had the exact same situation and results. After 2 weeks of off the chart Nitrite, I did daily PWCs and Nitrites went down to zero in a couple days. It seems that most people don't cut back on ammonia as much as I did. I was dosing to 2ppm every other day once a saw any signs of Nitrates.