Another cycle thread, help!

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Dosed up to 3ish ppm ammonia after last night’s reading.

Tonight’s tests:
Ammonia: .25
Nitrite: 2-5 maybe more? Hard to tell
Nitrates: through the roof almost 100

I really can’t tell if nitrites have peaked since yesterday or if they are off the charts and over 5. Looks about the same as last night Whatchu think?

image.jpg
 
Hello; I do not recall if this thread is one where the use of distilled water (DW) (also deionized water DI) has already been suggested. Use this to clean the test kit vials. With maxed out nitrates showing the vials may not be clean and may be giving a skewed result.
If the cleaned vials still show high nitrates then my guess is you have a lot of ammonia and the bb are almost numerous enough. There are plenty of both types to make nitrates, just not quite enough to do all the ammonia in a short time.
I would be tempted to stop adding any ammonia for a day or so to see if the ammonia and nitrite go to zero and the nitrates still test as being present. Then do a big WC and add a few small fish.
 
Nitrates have increased from about 10 after a water change last week. Seems to be testing ok, ie no error. Right now the tank is consuming almost 3ppm ammonia in 24hrs down to zero or just above.

I’ll try cutting the dose way down but dose more frequently so as not to starve out the bb. I’m hoping nitrite has peaked.
 
skjl47 said:
Hello; I do not recall if this thread is one where the use of distilled water (DW) (also deionized water DI) has already been suggested. Use this to clean the test kit vials. With maxed out nitrates showing the vials may not be clean and may be giving a skewed result.
If the cleaned vials still show high nitrates then my guess is you have a lot of ammonia and the bb are almost numerous enough. There are plenty of both types to make nitrates, just not quite enough to do all the ammonia in a short time.
I would be tempted to stop adding any ammonia for a day or so to see if the ammonia and nitrite go to zero and the nitrates still test as being present. Then do a big WC and add a few small fish.
Click to expand...

This. I had trouble cycling and this fixed everything.
 
Hello; The point of cleaning with distilled water is the vials can have a residue from previous tests. One member, duanes duanes , has described distilled or deionized water as like a wet vacuum. That being DW will soak up these residues and leave the vials much cleaner.

The other point is if the vials are contaminated you are not getting true results. In particular the water may not actually be maxed out in nitrates at around 100ppm.
 
I understand the point of rinsing with distilled water. I don’t think I am getting testing error as a result of vial residue. I rinse the vials with tank water and then re fill and test. I doubt any remaining residue is skewing my results more than the error already included in a hobby grade test kit.

The nitrate test could have been between 50-100, these color displays are hard to interpret sometimes.

I think the greater issue is the presence of nitrites, regardless of the level.

My question to imabot was which part of your post was he referencing as helping him with his cycle, I’m assuming it was discontinuing ammonia for a few days, not rinsing his test vials with distilled water.
 
Just to reiterate what Jeff was saying. After each test we performed when I was working in a water quality lab, we were required to rinse each tube 3 times with DI water, to rid the tube of any possible residual from the previous test. This insured accuracy.
Because with these tests, we are dealing in tiny amounts of sample water (an mL or 2), and testing for only parts per million of a substance. Even a half drop with residual from a previous test, or some tank, or tap water can skew results. Between tests I always places tubes upside down to drain any left over water.
DI water contains 0 substance, and helps to remove residual, whereas tank water, or tap water is by nature contaminated with many substances, and one a half drop has the ability to change a readings by leaps and bounds.
If tap water is treated with chloramine at the source, this can skew an ammonia or nitrate reading, or in the least cause "noise".
 
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