Opinions needed on API test results plz!

[Fish Tank Face]

So I haven’t been able to pick up Hanna checker nitrate reagents for a couple months now (if anyone has leads on where to find them in stock, plz let me know!), so I’ve resorted to using API for testing my cycle. Anyone want to take a stab at reading these results? I’m 2 weeks into fishless cycle (live sand, dry rock, ghost feed, microbacter starter xlm) Ty!!

 

[homer1475]

Your nitrate reading is moot. With nitrites present, it will give you a seriously high nitrate reading.

You can't test nitrates until the nitrites are 0.

 

[Acros]

Obviously, the cycle is not yet complete. Disregard nitrate test as mentioned above. API works well for nitrite in my experience. Wait for it to read 0. What’s your ammonia at?

 

[Rmckoy]

Is there any ammonia ?

nitrite are not necessary and will show false nitrate readings. .
Coming along well .
Seeing as you’re using this test kit .
when nitrites are zero and nitrates are higher
It’s complete .

 

[brandon429]

Want to convert this into a completely testless cycle with a guaranteed known completion date vs open ended wait?

take two good pinches of fish food and grind them into powder and add to the display where rocks are sitting in the waste water

let the mix swirl for another week, change out as much water as you can, it’s done, and can’t fail. No testing needed. Source for claims: we have been doing this for thirty straight pages in the how to unstick a cycle thread.


nitrites have absolutely no basis in display tank cycling they’ll mislead you, and cause you to wait. And cause you to skip disease preps by hyperfocusing on a fully neutral impact parameter.

above, the only test we need to see is omitted: ammonia.

if you owned seneye, your cycle here is done because nobody’s cycle is stalled at two weeks. Not anyone’s. Not ever, it only happens on non seneye cycles

we don’t need to see your ammonia anyway, the fish food trick fixes up your cycle even if this is the first incomplete two week cycle in the history of the forum, which it’s not.

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

non digital ammonia test kit readings (api, Red Sea, nyos, seachem badges) make you think you aren’t cycled when indeed you are if you owned a $200 expensive seneye meter, you’d never be doubting your cycle status. since .01% of the reefing population owns these, we need a way to help the...

www.reef2reef.com

your cycle is done, but since you’re using guaranteed misread tests you can’t know, and peers won’t let you believe either. So you’re stuck unless huge proof threads matter.

 

[Dcloser12]

So I haven’t been able to pick up Hanna checker nitrate reagents for a couple months now (if anyone has leads on where to find them in stock, plz let me know!), so I’ve resorted to using API for testing my cycle. Anyone want to take a stab at reading these results? I’m 2 weeks into fishless cycle (live sand, dry rock, ghost feed, microbacter starter xlm) Ty!!

Have you tested ammonia to see how fast it's being processed? Test, add,test wait a day and test again. See how fast it's being processed? That's the only sure way to tell just how much bacteria you have present

 

[Fish Tank Face]

Obviously, the cycle is not yet complete. Disregard nitrate test as mentioned above. API works well for nitrite in my experience. Wait for it to read 0. What’s your ammonia at?

Ammonia is reading .25-.5, But it’s API… so, ya know. Hah.

Nitrite spiked pretty early and has basically looked like this for the last week. I toss some flake food in there every day to every other day.

 

[brandon429]

Hey just re read you’ve been ghost feeding, you’re done. I thought it was liquid ammonia up till now, that’s more common.


waiting any longer doesn’t make your tank more able to carry fish, it’s ready, your disease prep protocol determines fish longevity now.

still do the big water change, start clean. You paid for a speed cycle you don’t need to pay for one and then still wait out the time for a non boosted cycle


that proof thread above is a collection of wins not because your tank isn’t done cycling, but because it is.


we assign specific start dates there, yours is now.


the way to select a fish disease prep approach is directly from the stickies in the disease forum, not any other place.


your testing challenge above is literally shown for thirty pages in our work link, you’re cycled, not stuck. You can see that when compared to a digital seneye cycle, these cheap test kits mislead the masses big time, constantly, every day.

 

[Fish Tank Face]

Your nitrate reading is moot. With nitrites present, it will give you a seriously high nitrate reading.

You can't test nitrates until the nitrites are 0.

Interesting, I didn't know that! I had heard that nitrites could remain high for a little while after they started converting. (Probably a bad source). But it's been years since I did a cycle where I actually tested and didn't just wait 30 days. Thanks for the info!

 

[Fish Tank Face]

Is there any ammonia ?

nitrite are not necessary and will show false nitrate readings. .
Coming along well .
Seeing as you’re using this test kit .
when nitrites are zero and nitrates are higher
It’s complete .

Ammonia is .25 - .5 (hard to tell with this kit, but it's all I have left for testing at the moment).

 

[brandon429]

The reason people report that same api ammonia reading in fully cycled tanks makes sense given the dosing and wait time here.

bottle bac is bought because it speeds up normal wait times. If you buy a seneye you’ll never doubt nitrification ability again, but then again there’s no need to own one/ we don’t require seneye to assign safe start dates above they just make handy spot checks for the calls made.


there are no cycling charts available that show ammonia noncontrol at two weeks, and ammonia is the only param you need to track in a cycle. Source for claim: Randy Holmes Farley chemistry forum posts, and our huge proof thread above.

 

[homer1475]

It's the way the kit works. I believe(can't actually remember the science) the chemicals convert the nitrates to nitrites, and the coloring reagent reacts to that. Or something along those lines.

 

[Fish Tank Face]

Have you tested ammonia to see how fast it's being processed? Test, add,test wait a day and test again. See how fast it's being processed? That's the only sure way to tell just how much bacteria you have present

No, I haven't - I'm doing ghost feeding, so no easy way to dose a reliable amount of ammonia. I might just need to wait it out I suppose!

 

[homer1475]

As long as your tank can process ammonia, your done with the cycle for SW purposes. Nitrates are not toxic in salt water at the levels we see while cycling.

 

[Gtinnel]

So I haven’t been able to pick up Hanna checker nitrate reagents for a couple months now (if anyone has leads on where to find them in stock, plz let me know!),

I haven't read all of the posts so I'm not sure if already mentioned but here is the Hanna reagent in stock

HI782-25 Nitrate High Range Reagents (25 tests) - Hanna Instruments

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[Fish Tank Face]

Hey just re read you’ve been ghost feeding, you’re done. I thought it was liquid ammonia up till now, that’s more common.


waiting any longer doesn’t make your tank more able to carry fish, it’s ready, your disease prep protocol determines fish longevity now.

still do the big water change, start clean. You paid for a speed cycle you don’t need to pay for one and then still wait out the time for a non boosted cycle


that proof thread above is a collection of wins not because your tank isn’t done cycling, but because it is.


we assign specific start dates there, yours is now.


the way to select a fish disease prep approach is directly from the stickies in the disease forum, not any other place.


your testing challenge above is literally shown for thirty pages in our work link, you’re cycled, not stuck. You can see that when compared to a digital seneye cycle, these cheap test kits mislead the masses big time, constantly, every day.

Gotcha. I'm going to dig into that thread a bit - thanks for the insight! It's hard for me to get away from the old school "pinch of fish food" method. It's always worked in the past, but now that I have this awesome source of collective knowledge (reef2reef), it's nice to tap into.

 

[Rmckoy]

Ammonia is .25 - .5 (hard to tell with this kit, but it's all I have left for testing at the moment).

For the time being. And as a indication whether there is ammonia or not .
you aren’t looking for accurate measurements

imo according to the old way . You’re almost there .

any plans of what you’re stocking when it’s ready ?

 

[Garf]

No, I haven't - I'm doing ghost feeding, so no easy way to dose a reliable amount of ammonia. I might just need to wait it out I suppose!

You got a pic of the tank?

 

[Rmckoy]

Gotcha. I'm going to dig into that thread a bit - thanks for the insight! It's hard for me to get away from the old school "pinch of fish food" method. It's always worked in the past, but now that I have this awesome source of collective knowledge (reef2reef), it's nice to tap into.

The new way kinda scares me .
We are supposedly dumping food in . Waiting a time period and not testing just dumping fish in ?

I started years ago when we added either hardy fish or a raw shrimp .
let the ammonia level rise to 4ppm and stayed there for a set time until the system processed all ammonia to nitrates which were extremely high ( 60ppm
A large water change was performed to lower those levels .

but … that being said that’s in the time when we could throw anything in our tanks and there was enough nitrifying bacteria to process everything .
Live rock was plentiful at that time as well .

 

[brandon429]

There’s an ongoing duality in cycling where nearly everyone polled agrees api overstates ammonia in running reefs or cycling tanks…anyone can start a poll to see rates of doubt but I predict 75% of anyone polled will agree api is known to state ~ .25 in ready tanks or something to a degree of concern where there is none.

then when we switch the poll to: nitrite, is api accurate? 100% agree. It’s because that’s all they have as the tester, it isn’t that api legitimately went from the most doubted test kit set in existence to the most trustworthy. That’s a fascinating ongoing duality.


my takeaway is if someone wants to factor nitrite in a cycle, do it with Hanna digital