Conflicting test results

[MaD_ReefeR]

Hello reefers

So I started cycling my tank air a week ago, water went in last week Saturday, let it run overnight to clear up and get any floaties with sponge/sock before taking them out and adding one and only bacteria/ammonium chloride. I have been following the directions on Dr. Tim's site each day, testing and adding more ammonia on the days it says you should add it depending on your test results. Everyday the numbers were staying the same, I was using saliferts and the ammonia colors are so very similar to me but they were on the lower end. I decided to go out and get a red sea marine kit, tested the water and The results seem quite different. I now feel like maybe I overdosed on the ammonia since I thought I was under what red sea says I'm at. The website says if you overdo it with the ammonia you should do a water change until it comes down, but how do I know which test I should trust? It states not to let it go over 5 PPM but neither of these tests give me any results aside from over 2ppm.

Also, I just realized that there is a chart on the back of the Red Sea ammonia card, that shows a difference for total and toxic ammonia, The salifert test kit I have on the box is only labeled NH3.

 

[gbroadbridge]

Hello reefers

So I started cycling my tank air a week ago, water went in last week Saturday, let it run overnight to clear up and get any floaties with sponge/sock before taking them out and adding one and only bacteria/ammonium chloride. I have been following the directions on Dr. Tim's site each day, testing and adding more ammonia on the days it says you should add it depending on your test results. Everyday the numbers were staying the same, I was using saliferts and the ammonia colors are so very similar to me but they were on the lower end. I decided to go out and get a red sea marine kit, tested the water and The results seem quite different. I now feel like maybe I overdosed on the ammonia since I thought I was under what red sea says I'm at. The website says if you overdo it with the ammonia you should do a water change until it comes down, but how do I know which test I should trust? It states not to let it go over 5 PPM but neither of these tests give me any results aside from over 2ppm.

Also, I just realized that there is a chart on the back of the Red Sea ammonia card, that shows a difference for total and toxic ammonia, The salifert test kit I have on the box is only labeled NH3.

Both test kits are measuring Total Ammonia, NH3+NH4.
They simply use a different test method.

One of them is wrong. Have you performed the tests again?

In any event it is likely the Red Sea is correct as the tank will not have cycled yet.

You can dilute the sample 50/50 with tank/fresh salt water to double the range of the kit.

 

[MaD_ReefeR]

Ive been doing the salifert test all week and its pretty much been the same all week. the red sea i just got today so have only tested it once using that kit. I'm sure the tank is not cycled yet, I was just worried about having put a second dose of the ammonia. Both of those tests were done today.

So if I use 2.5ml of tank water instead of the 5ml and the rest freshly made salt water i would test that and double the numbers on the test, basically the max reading instead of being 2 would be 4?

 

[gbroadbridge]

Ive been doing the salifert test all week and its pretty much been the same all week. the red sea i just got today so have only tested it once using that kit. I'm sure the tank is not cycled yet, I was just worried about having put a second dose of the ammonia. Both of those tests were done today.

So if I use 2.5ml of tank water instead of the 5ml and the rest freshly made salt water i would test that and double the numbers on the test, basically the max reading instead of being 2 would be 4?

Ignoring the tiny amount of ammonia that may be in the new water, that's correct.