Advice on H2O perams.

[Marine1]

Hi everyone,

Please help

 

I have been patiently waiting for my BC29 to cycle (it has been 5 weeks). My last readings as of today are

 

Ammonia 0.25

Nitrate 0

Nitrite 0

PH 8.8

Calc 420

Carbonite 143.2

Salinity 1.025

 

Should I be worried that my tank hasn't cycled??? I used established live rock from my 55 gal FOWLR of 2 years. I currently am using Chemi-Pure Elite in chamber 1, Filter floss & Chaeto in chamber 2 and heater in Chamber 3. I have stock pump (took out the right angle at return for more flow). I am using a Coralia nano and another small pump of 250 gph. I am showing a lot of diatoms on sand bed, and the LR is getting good coraline algae (purple and green - not hair algae). Should I wait for the Amonia to go down before adding anything? I only have a few snails and hermits right now.

 

Oh and I used oceanic reef salt to make the salt water (have yet to do a H2O change - 5 weeks).

[masterbuilder]

I dont like the numbers you are getting. I find it unusual the you are showing .25 ammonia with 0 nitrites and nitrates after 5 weeks. I suspect your test kit is not giving you accurate info. Anyway until you can verify your numbers, I would not add any livestock with those ammonia levels showing up. My 2 cents

[Sergeant-G]

Try rinsing the vials two or three times with a bit of tank water and test again, I was having the same problem you are, I was testing levels in different vials every time and getting wierd readings, I have all my vials labeled and each one is used for a certain test then rinsed when done this works well for me. I figured this out after I took some water to my LFS and they said my PH was off the chart, I came home and retested and it was in normal range.

 

I hope this helps,

Casey

[Marine1]

Try rinsing the vials two or three times with a bit of tank water and test again, I was having the same problem you are, I was testing levels in different vials every time and getting wierd readings, I have all my vials labeled and each one is used for a certain test then rinsed when done this works well for me. I figured this out after I took some water to my LFS and they said my PH was off the chart, I came home and retested and it was in normal range.

 

I hope this helps,

Casey

 

Yah thanks. I am doing multiple testing with same vial. I am short a vial and have not labelled them, so it is possible I am testing with different vials every time. However, I do rinse out the vials very well after each testing. Maybe that is the problem. I will bring my water to a LFS to compare.