Im absolutely furious with API

[reefbroao]

I have had fish in my tank for a solid week plus and monitored a cycle before adding any livestock. The ammonia spike was very quick and nitrates showed up after a few days of starting the tank since I used lr, water and seeded some sand from my established older tank (now gone) so the cycle SHOULD have been very fast. BUT today I had my lfs test my water which showed Nitrite???? these garbage test kits did not show any at all. My lfs owner said hes not sure why my cycle isn't ending for some reason the conversion from nitrite to nitrate isn't completely finishing. its been almost a month and still cant finish the process. I'm so angry with this company because I didn't add livestock until they read zero for ammonia and nitrite which it did. now none of my tests are reading accurately (like totally crazy readings, 50 nitrate when I have 2). And I have used these test kits many times before, and I know how to use them properly (following the directions exactly).

I'm writing this because I noticed today that my foxface was losing coloration, gaining brown in the dorsal area (not the same as when he camouflages himself) and breathing extremely fast so I had the lfs test and I'm showing nitrite. Its low but still should have shown on my test kit.

I am able to recognize what I have done wrong but I feel totally cheated by a sub par product that is now effecting the life of my pets. I absolutely love my fish and hate to think that they've been sitting through a toxic situation.

my fish are acting normal but he is breathing faster than normal. I never saw any signs of distress before now. corals are wide open and even my sps have been showing growth.

 

[Marchillo]

Have you used any products like prime? You should probably add some to make the water safe. If you've already used it then it could throw test kit readings off.

My experience with api has been fine but you will find many complaints here. It hasn't done me wrong on ammonia or nitrites. Nitrates is fine when close to zero but anytime it's a little orange colored I retest with either Redsea pro or salifert.

Sorry for your issue.

 

[reefbroao]

I have used prime so I wondered the same thing. I'm wondering if possibly my solution went bad? they used to test fine and now the results for everything from that kit are totally off

 

[Pet Detective]

Well it's ok to be frustrated, you should have also learned a valuable lesson, there are NO shortcuts when it comes to cycling a tank, just because you borrowed sand, water, rock etc. does not guarantee a shorter waiting period, a colony of denitrifying bacteria expands & contracts according to the amount of ammonia it regularly receives, it takes time to establish this original colony, wherever it chooses to colonize, filter media, rock, sand etc.
if you had waited 6 weeks, regardless of any false readings, you would have been fine, good luck to you & I hope the foxface lives.

 

[Marchillo]

I'm pretty sure prime throws off test kits. SeaChem has nitrite and nitrate combo kit that may read more accurately. I know this is true with their ammonia test kit and ammonia alert badge.

 

[reefbroao]

the sand lr and water were from my own tank, I started this tank while breaking down my other and finished within an hour. I did not use prime until today when I knew the nitrite was there.

The sand has even been showing algae for a while now.

I suppose Ill wait and try to retest in order to avoid prime effecting the results/ hope he is okay. He looks fine now but gave me a heart attack. regardless there is a small amount of nitrite left.

 

[Rybren]

How old are your test kits? The newer API have a manufacture and expiration date stamped on the label. Older ones just have the manufacture date.

 

[reefbroao]

It says its good until 2020.

 

[Rybren]

My other question would be - how many fish did you add and did you add them all at once? It is possible that the added bioload of the fish caused the problem that you experienced. Nitrites may well have been undetectable, but adding too many fish all at once may have been more than your tank could handle.

 

[reefbroao]

1 melanurus and a few days later a small foxface

 

[OoNickoC]

Why not just let the tank cycle for a couple months then test without messing with it?

 

[reefbroao]

well it shouldn't have gone into a full cycle because I added everything from my established tank. my lfs owner knows the situation and even said he has no idea why its still happening. the showed all signs of the cycle ending weeks ago, its just seeming to have trouble converting nitrite to nitrate apparently.

I understand patience is key in this hobby but I see no need for a lengthy cycle when it can be done much faster, my last tank cycled in 3 days.

I forgot to add that I put in 10 lbs of carib sea life rock and that may be causing it. They told me it wouldn't cause any problems but I suspect it may be the culprit.

 

[OoNickoC]

The new xmas tank should be put on back burner tbh. If your testing at anything near month one your antsy, testing the first couple weeks is flirting with disappointment, and the first few days is...well going to invite your predicament ocassionally. Forget patience, the best thing is self control and a routine. Just leave it be before you keep adding fish/chemicals.

 

[Marchillo]

I wouldn't expect life rock to do that. I used it for my first tank. 40 #s. I never saw a cycle. I waited 4 weeks to be sure but a year later I still have all the fish I started with and no deaths. I love that stuff for that purpose. Just wish they made larger pieces. My pieces didn't have tons of variation.

 

[OoNickoC]

I wouldn't expect life rock to do that. I used it for my first tank. 40 #s. I never saw a cycle. I waited 4 weeks to be sure but a year later I still have all the fish I started with and no deaths. I love that stuff for that purpose. Just wish they made larger pieces. My pieces didn't have tons of variation.

Probably from messing with the tank rather than the established rock from a good system.

 

[Marchillo]

Life rock is a manmade product that the op must have put in the tank that was brand new. I was giving my experience with this product that there was no cycle present. The lfs was confused. I added two clowns with no issues.

I am guessing that as the previous poster suggested that the old sand etc could be releasing a lot of this stuff?

 

[reefbroao]

well the problem is that I DID see a cycle 3 weeks ago with all of my established rock. I only added the life rock because it was cheap and wanted to add height to my aquascape. The only reason it cycled was the new live sand I added. EVERYTHING else was established, water , lr. and the lr was only out of the water for a matter of seconds.

Im trying to explain that this tank by no means was started from scratch, I essentially moved my smaller tank to this new larger one using all of the same stuff besides sand.

I guess i'm not explaining it very well. but there must be something going on because I should not still be cycling. I had all of my perimeters good 3 weeks ago.

 

[MondoBongo]

are you sure this is a water chemistry issue?

were the two fish added quarantined? perhaps the water is within spec, but the fox face is coming down with something?

 

[reefbroao]

I think the foxface may be pulling some weird stuff, he seems totally fine now. but either way leaves the question as to why I have any nitrite at all.

 

[Marchillo]

I was following along with established rock etc. When you said seeded with your sand I thought you used all the old sand.

I agree with you. I'm shocked that this happened. I was told when I upgraded from my 40 to 80 that I could just move everything over and be all set. I ended up playing it safe and running them side by side for a few weeks.

I use api for quick and dirty testing (easy and quick). Invest in some new test kits and do plenty of wc's and use prime to try to kick this in the butt and save your fish. Hopefully it's just a small mini cycle that will come and go quickly.