Need test result interpretation

[Chineseghoststory]

Maybe this does not belong in the general discussion area but over in the beginner's area, but for one I am not a beginner with fish exactly, and two, I don't want to wait for three days for this post to get one paltry response.

 

I am well aware of what nitrate, nitrite, ammonia and Ph are and what they each indicate, but after doing my first in-home test this evening on my one-month old 7 gal. nano, I need a more expert opinion as to where everything is in the cycling process. The results do not exactly correspnd to what is mentioned as normal in the articles section so some interpretation may be in order.

 

I have only one damsel in my tank plus sand and LR, and of course, equipment. No clean up crew yet. I do have some brown algae that has to be scraped from the glass occasionaly, and an occasional very small spot of red algae. I tested using an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Saltwater Master Test Kit which I found pretty easy to use and which gave unambiguous results that were for the most part easy to interpret. Let's do the numbers!

 

Ph: 8.2 (I know that's a good one)

ammonia: .40 (probably due to slight overfeeding recently, ooops!)

nitrites: 0

nitrates: 5.0

 

Okay so what do we make of this? How far along in the cycling does this say I am? When to add the clean up crew and how many of what to start off with?

 

Thanks,

 

Jeff

[chvynva916]

That all seems pretty normal for an initial cycle. I'd have two suggestions:

 

1 - You might want to get in the habit of testing for alkalinity and Ca depending on what you want to keep in the tank.

 

2 - When posting, make sure you post all of the details of your tank (size, filtration, lbs of rock and sand, livestock, lighting, any additives, anything you can think of)

[Korbin]

One data point doesnt say a whole lot about the progress of cycling. You should probably take measurements every day, or even a couple of times a day and chart the progress. (at least while its cycling. Not every day for the rest of your life). That way you will see how nitrate and nitrite levels respond to changes in ammonia levels. You might find that the levels flucuate for awhile and eventually all go to (almost) zero over time.

[Physh1]

I agree with both answers. You need multiple tests over a period of time to tell whether the ammonia is going up or down. We also need a little more info from you tank setup so we can help diagnose if everything is acting normal or if there is some tweaking that needs to be done.

 

Cameron

[BCOrchidGuy]

You may want to test more often than once every 7 months like has been suggested. Keep a log of your test results as well that way you can recongize any trends in your readings, IE, if you seem to get a nitrite spike after a water change but your ammonia test of your new water was 0 you may want to replace your ammonia test kit. (Yes you should be checking your top off water too, maybe not for pH but for phosphates at the very least.)

 

 

**Not a good sign when I try spell check I get a fatal error.... is my spelling that bad??**

[chvynva916]

BC,

 

How come you have 440w on your 20g and 192w on your 72g?

[BCOrchidGuy]

The 400 watt is between 4 and 5 feet away from the 20. I put that in my sig a couple weeks ago.