New to the Hobby and need help

[Hsaxon001]

We set up our 90 gallon tank and put the live rock and sand and let it cycle. Once the ammonia and nitrite levels remained at zero for over a week we added a fire shrimp, about 10 small hermit crabs, about 10 snails and 2 clown fish. Everyone seems to be healthy and happy but now when I test the water the ammonia will not drop below .25 ppm and the nitrites are at a .5ppm. Nitrates are at 20ppm. We have done 20 gal water changes daily the last two weeks and those numbers will not change. What are we doing wrong? Any thoughts on how to get ammonia and nitrites back to zero?

[Hsaxon001]

And I forgot to mention that we allowed the tank to cycle over a 5 week period.

[farfromsea]

If you have ammonia in your tank add prime immediately. If this problem is going on for more than a day and the fish aren't dead I suspect you have a bad test kit or difficulty reading the test. Which test do you use?

[Maritimer]

That last question (which test are you using) can be key - API, in particular, seems to have a reputation for falsely returning a reading of .25 or so ammonia. You might consider a second kit to confirm . . .

~Bruce

[fishchef]

Take some water to your LFS for comparison.

[monkeysee1]

Yes! Add some Prime and get some bacteria to jump start your tank !!!
Prodibio Bio Clean works great at breaking down the ammonia and in preventing spikes from recurring.
Red Sea makes a great ammonia test kit!
Hope this helps!

[ericarenee]

How did you Cycle the tank and what method did you use to confirm it was cycled?

From your readings showing Ammonia and Nitrite. Your tank was not cycled..AMQUIL OR prime is your only option at this time. of course water changes.. Also agitate the water surface very well..

as far as API Test kits. I have seen over and over people say they are NOT Accurate. they give false readings.. Myself and several others i know have compared test kits.. API Kit works fine for most things.. AMMONIA is one of them... But you could have expired or contaminated regents..

you can have LFS To test the water and confirm your results while your picking up some amquil ..

[Hsaxon001]

We are using an API test kit. I've been using prime daily since I saw the readings showing anything. My biggest concern is the nitrite. Maybe we will try to purchase another test kit to confirm. I have also considered using a product like stability to help boost the bacteria but have been hesitant because I've read a lot in some of these forums that using those products can actually slow the process. Another interesting bit of info we just discovered is that when we test the new RO water prior to adding salt it tests perfect readings. After adding instant ocean I get a .25 on the ammonia but still no reading on nitrite or nitrates. This is just such a frustrating thing to be happening.

[homer1475]

It's the API kit.

They are known for giving false reading specially the ammonia one. The problem being is that the fresh and salt kits are identical. When you mix the test solutions in salt water it always looks slightly green.

[Hsaxon001]

I ordered a red sea test kit this morning, we've looked around at a few different lfs and can't find any brand except API unless we want strips which I don't feel are as accurate. So does this sound like a mini cycle happening after adding our fish? And how long can it take with daily water changes and adding prime for the nitrites to go back to zero?

[farfromsea]

I honestly feel like it is going to turn out to all be 0 once you get the Red Sea test. If your fish are fine and not being weird then there can't really be ammonia in the tank. Especially since you are saying freshly mixed saltwater is showing up positive for nitrites that is a little messed up. Just hang in there and let us know what happens when you test again! (My LFS too uses API so they aren't a good backup for me lol)


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[lukewithcats]

i recently cycled my tank and I couldn't get amonia or nitrite down to 0 with both staying one reading above 0 and after a week of that I judt decided the test must be screwy when reading so low and I did a 100% water change and added some hardy fish. The tank definitely cycled as i had a diatom outbreak happen right after and now am into green filament algae. I'm guessing when it comes to a 0 reading the tests have a hard time.

[fishing guide]

I would be suspicious of the test. API ammonia test gave me consistently wrong readings. It always indicated I had ammonia when there was clearly no issue. Compared it with Salifert which indicated zero.

[Hsaxon001]

I am happy to reply that we received our red sea test kit today and tested our water and it was indeed a false reading from the api kit. I am so relieved that is all it was

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[TheOtherDB]

... perhaps worthy of note here ... but first, congrats on the new (and we now know, perfectly safe) tank!

I almost never test any more unless I see something going amiss. Having said that, while starting up my most recent tank, I used API with successful results. The kit was new, not expired, and following the directions, I read ammonia in the time frame as instructed in the directions. Leaving it for longer than directed, the sample continued to get green until it looked like I had detectable levels.

Not sayin' this is what happened to your test ... but, maybe?

In any case, you have a happy ending, and that, IMHO, deserves a round of applause. Welcome to the wonderful, but sometimes panic ridden world of reefing! :)