Strange test results, or are they?

[CeaWitch]

Hi, all..me again! I am in the process of cycling my new 55g. I used some of the water from my 29g, had placed a sponge from the new cannister filter into my old filter for 2 weeks before, hoping to pick up some biological help, plus added a handful of gravel to the filter media. I conditioned the water with Prime, and a new product my LFS raved about, called Special Blend. I decided to do the old fashioned" cycle, with 3 giant danios, and added 2 elodea plants. These were added to the tank on Oct 1, after letting the tank and water set for 3 days. Now, for the point of this question, I will post my test results since then. I find them not in keeping with what I have read.
Oct 1----Ph 7.0
NitrIte 0.0
Am 0.0

Oct 2----Ph 7.2
NitrIte 0.25
Am 0.0

Oct 3----Ph 7.0
NitrIte 0.25
Am 0.0

Oct 4----Ph 7.6 (added Ph reducer) was corrected to 6.8
NitrIte 0.25
Am 0.0

Oct 5----Ph between 6.8&7.0
NitrIte between 0.0 and 0.25 (lower than day before)
Am 0.0
NitrAte 40 (just got the test kit)

Oct 6 Ph 7.0
NitrIte 0.0
Am 0.0
NitrAte 20
As you can see, the ammonia levels never spiked, Could this be because of the Prime? I haven't done a water change as yet, should I even though the tests show no toxic levels? Any advice or insight would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Vyache]

Give it some time you might get spikes yet. Then again you might have enough of a bilogical filter already established for a bioload of three fish. I usually add gravel from an established tank (with undergravel filters involved) and don't get big spikes either.

 

[RedTurquoise]

As vyache mentioned, you might not get a spike because you used some established media. It is possible for the simple fact that the 'ammonia bacteria' divides or reproduces around 8 hours. Therefore the ammonia was taken care of quickly. The
'nitrite bacteria' only reproduce every 14+ hours therefore taking longer to reduce nitrites. Prime does not get rid of ammonia. Actually you will still get ammonia reading because Prime binds the ammonia however they are nontoxic. Id watch your nitrate levels. Its a little strange that from the 5-6 that the levels are lower. Do you have real plants?

 

[Vyache]

I suspect natural errors in reading the test kits. I know somtimes I just have to estimate what color the water has turned. Different amounts of light could also be blamed for differences in perception. You might have also got some contaminents, perhaps a flake of food, into the test vial during one test or maybe the gravel was stirred up a little. If you are using a test kit that is old, the chemicals might be unstable. I've had problems with dry tab test kits, they don't seem to be as consistant as drops from a bottle. Make sure you hold the bottle the same way every time to ensure uniformity of drop size. If in doubt of a test result, test again for confimation.

 

[RedTurquoise]

Yea! Very good point about 'dry' test kits! I have used them once and only once. I did not like the tests at all because they were very unreliable, unaccurate and hard to read.

 

[CeaWitch]

Hi! Thanks you for taking time to reply. I am sure the test kit is fine, it's the Aqua Pharm master test kit, and brand new. It was purchased from a very large, busy LFS that has a great reputation. It is family owned, and been in the biz for longer than I can remember! Plus, I also tested my 29g and got different results. So I'm ruling that out. My results today are:
am...0.0
nitrIte...0.0 (it is definitely lite blue!)
nitrAte...between 5 & 10, leaning to 5
Ph...7.0
I do have 4 bunches of elodea in the tank, and the plants and fish are doing great. I'm wondering if I should add another fish or 2. I am planning on moving some fish from my 29 to the new one anyway. I can either move a rainbow shark (appox 4&quot, a pair of paradise fish, or opaline gouramies, I have 2 that are both about 4" also. There are 3 giant danios in the new tank now. Any feedback on this idea would be appreciated. Also, the new stuff my LFS raved about is called Microbe-Lift Special Blend. They have a website at www.microbelift.com if anyone wants to check it out. My fish guy has many aquariums of his own, and tried this to cycle a new tank and says it was terrific. Maybe it made a difference for mine.  *twirlysmiley* Please let me know what you think! Thanks!

 

[Vyache]

My point about the test was that there is a lot of room for error.

If you want to add fish I would suggest the gouramis or paradise fish since they can get oxygen from the surface if things do start to go south. I don't know how much of a factor this really is, but in theory, fish with a labirynth organ should be able to survice in water with lower quality.

 

[RedTurquoise]

My comment on the bacteria-in-a-bottle (biab) is that bacteria requires 02 and a food source to survive. I dont see how a bottle has both plus a shelve life. If they say that the bacteria is 'dormant', it takes a couple of weeks before it comes active anyways therefore there is no advantage.

we seal the bottle and expose it to a special ultraviolet light

Its fun reading their 'tech' side of things. In the research I have done, UV light kills bacteria no matter how 'special'. I have yet to see a 'biab' that will cycle a new tank within a week (no seedings or anything). Now that would be a product worth buying.

 

[CeaWitch]

Well, my tank is doing about the same, nitrates are up to 20 today, 0 ammonia and nitrItes. The fish are doing fine, have added a paradise and opaline gourami 2 days ago. I'm still puzzled as to the lack of cycling spikes, the parameters are almost the same as in my well established 29 gal.