Hard Softy Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I have be cycling for 10 days, dry rock and live sand. Bacteria in a bottle and Ammonium chloride. Salifert test kits. I'm trying to do my 2 ppm to 0 in 24 hours, yes maybe too soon, but the point is my ammonia test. I have been trying to get my 2 ppm of ammonia using Dr. Tim's chloride. It says 1 drop per gal to get 2 ppm, my tank is 25 .. I'll add 25 drops and between 3 of us is the following results ... Me, I think it's dark at 1.5, wife is at .25, daughter .25. OK no girls win ... add 25 more drops hopping for higher results. Same exact thing. X2. So I completely clean test vials, syringes and pour a drink. Personal "carbon dosing" vodka. Run the test again, added 1 drop pure ammonia to test vile with 2 mil water. Same freaking results, or close looked like yellow .25 to me as well. Bad ammonia, bad test, I'm at a loss. Lookin for tricks guys ... better test kit? What is the right light to look at in .. mid day summer noon, incandescent, come on Link to comment
Hard Softy Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 10 days .... not going to test again for 14 more days. Should I feed the bac during this time? I'm thinking just let it ride ... Link to comment
seabass Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 We see the same problem here: http://www.nano-reef.com/topic/347974-salifert-vs-api/ And here: http://www.fishforums.net/index.php?/topic/415015-ammonia-testing-the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly/ Ammonia exists in water in two forms, un-ionized ammonia (NH3) and the ammonium ion (NH4+). I wonder if the Salifert test kit can accurately detect total ammonia. Maybe get a cheap API kit just for cycling. Link to comment
Newstead Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I feel your pain ... with my latest tank I had Salifert, API and Seachems and would get different results. With my 1st tank I only had API and the cycle did well using that. I agree, get API and just use that for ammonia. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I wish I could help but I have never cycled a tank adding ammonia. I just use livesand, dry rock and liverock. Feed the tank some fish food and wait. I test every 2 days and within 2 weeks done. I've done 4 tanks with this method. Never fails. I would try a different test kit, get an Api to see the difference in numbers between the 2. Link to comment
brandon429 Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 Why not go testless cycle since testing is the prob here not the cycle. Uncouple the two. The only way this below won't cycle an aquarium anywhere on earth is if you didn't have water, or added meds, or ran unnatural temps: Add bottle bac several times in any old amount over the course of forty days Add the correct liquid ammonia using online ammonia calcs, run the guesstimate 1 ppm levels, without testing, because variance doesn't matter in cycling only the time frame matters Keep water in the tank for forty days At forty one days you are as cycled as the most OCD, detailed, verified, redundantly verified cycler has ever accomplished. Per online cycle charts anyway. Your cycle (ability to process initial reef bioloading) gets done before that time on a date we don't know (could be day 1 since caribsea live sand already handles bioload, depends on ammonia loading levels) but waiting forty days allows all known dry surfaces to catch up. The only thing testing accurately gets you is some start time less than forty days. A testless option remains. Link to comment
Hard Softy Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 https://www.flickr.com/gp/144129976@N07/L5oZZN Got the API ammonia test kit looks to be about 3 ppm, nitrates are at 75 ppm. It's been 12 hours since I added the ammonia. Let it ride or do a water change? Link to comment
seabass Posted June 23, 2016 Share Posted June 23, 2016 I know nitrate is very high; but ammonia isn't that high, so I don't feel you have to do a water change just yet. I'd probably just monitor how long ammonia takes to become undetectable. Obviously you'll need to change the water (to reduce nitrate below 10 ppm) before adding any livestock. Link to comment
Hard Softy Posted June 23, 2016 Author Share Posted June 23, 2016 Great, thank you for the help guys. Link to comment
Clown79 Posted June 24, 2016 Share Posted June 24, 2016 I'd wait to do a water change until the ammonia and nitrites are 0, then do a good water change to lower the nitrates. Each cycle is different and length of time can vary. Planning the tank during this time helps with the waiting. Link to comment
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