Ammonia

[fishog]

Recieved part 1 of the package friday . I have been testing for Ammonia and nitrites . The nitrites are starting to rise but have not seen any rise in the ammonia levels . Bought new red sea test kits so I wouldn't think it would be the kits . Shouldn't the ammonia rise first ?
Thanks

 

[HowardW]

What are the levels of both? Also, Red Sea test kits are not considered top end quality or very accurate by many, you may want to consider another brand and retest.

 

[fishog]

Ammonia is staying around 0.25--0.5 and nitrite is 0.2 after water change drops down around 0.1 and then back up .

 

[HowardW]

That nitrite reading is trivial, keep an eye on your ammonia daily and when it begins to fall off the nitrites will climb, then nitrites will spike and fall and nitrates will show up. Once both ammonia and nitrites read 0 and you have nitrates your tank has gone through its initial cycle. The next several days will be important in checking ammonia and doing partial water changes if it climbs above .75 PPM or abouts.

 

[JuzDuky]

My part 1 never did rise more than .5ppm ammonia. TBS rock is really clean so ammonia really won't go off the chart, at least it didn't in my case. Part 2 went the same with about only a .5ppm rise.

 

[mlbarry]

I am in the same spot as the OP. I added 125 lbs of sand and 125 lbs of rock on Thursday. I tested 2 times a say. My ammonia never did go up. I used an API and Salifert test kit thinking one was faulty. Today I tested and ammonia still 0, nitrites 0 and nitrates between 5-10ppm.

Could I have had an instant cycle??

 

[SpiderCrab2]

With live rock from TBS the cycle time is minimal if not none at all. But dont let that rush you out to the LFS..... Just take your time and let it do its thing.

 

[fishog]

What brand of test kits do you guys recomend ?

 

[HowardW]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12008953#post12008953 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishog
What brand of test kits do you guys recomend ?

API (American Pharmaceuticals) test kits for pH, alk, calcium, nitrate, etc. are inexpensive and are quite accurate, and I use Salifert for magnesium. The Instant Ocean kit for pH is also very accurate.

 

[divemonster]

bump!

bump!

Here is the post where folks are asking questions about ammonia.