First reef tank - testing

[jsmkmavity]

 

[ChrisfromBrick]

Welcome! Get the Hanna ULR phosphate and Hanna HR nitrate. Those are the most accurate.

 

[Fish Think Pink]

Welcome! I have personally switched over to the Red Sea test kits, but there is a lot of good info already shared here within your thread. Consistency and patience are the magic in this hobby.

 

[fishnick]

Thanks for the message!
I'm still not seeing any nitrite being produced using the Sera so still in early cycling.
I am going away for a few days mid August and back on 20th Aug so all going well I will add my first 2 clownfish on 21 or 22 August.
Should I do my first waterchange when I am back around 10-20% or more?
Also do I need to QT the clownfish if they are bred and they are the first fish going into the tank?

I don't think you're adding enough ammonia. You want the ammonia to go up to about 2.0 ppm on your test kit (don't go only by the instructions on the bottle). If you get your ammonia up that high, and it goes down to nearly zero, you should have nitrite at that point.

I double dosed ammonium chloride last Tuesday by accident and it was reading above 2.0 ppm on Saturday along with nitrite at 0. Yesterday ammonia was at 2.0 ppm. I am going to test again tomorrow to see if it needs another dose of ammonia and I'll check the nitrite as well which hopefully will show.

 

[Ocean_Queenie]

Hello & Welcome to R2R!