Red Sea no2 test question

[Montu]

Hello,

I'm brand new to the hobby and have started a fishless cycle using 99.9% ammonium chloride.

When running the test for nitrite, the color is always going to a light orange color that does not match anything on the results card...is this normal? What does it mean? I'm guessing it means it's measuring above 0 but not enough for the first color?

Any input would be appreciated.

thanks!

 

[Montu]

bump..still getting an orange color this AM

 

[kingston.buck]

Which test kit are you using?

 

[Montu]

The one that comes in "Red Sea Fish Pharm ARE21525 Marine Care Test Kit for Aquarium"

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BAVVD6I/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[Montu]

Here's a picture.

 

[kingston.buck]

Are you using the right drops and powder? There are a few different ones

 

[kingston.buck]

 

[Montu]

Yup, and I made sure they aren't anywhere near expired.

 

[NanaReefer]

How many ml of water, how many drops of regent A and how many scoops of C?
No it should not be orange if you're doing it correctly. If you are then the kit is bad.

 

[Montu]

16ml of water 1 drop of A and 1 scoop of c, I just contacted red Sea...I suppose I must have a bad regent.

Thank you guys.

 

[kingston.buck]

Hey did you ever get squared away and get a good test kit? Tank cycled yet?

 

[Montu]

Hey did you ever get squared away and get a good test kit? Tank cycled yet?

They sent me a new kit and it did the same thing..they offered to send yet another but I just picked up an API kit that worked.

The tank just finished cycling a few days ago and I put in a pair of clowns.

 

[Montu]

Alright,

Maybe I gotta make a new thread..but I'll ask here first.

During the cycle I had pretty low PH, it fell down below 7 and sat for a while, I then used some Marine Buffer to get it up because I read low PH can make the tank cycle slower...well I got it up to the 7.4 area and left it there...that DID work and the tank is cycled now and doing pretty well..but PH is still a slight issue.

Upon changing ~90 of the water before adding the clowns the PH was sitting at about 7.6-7.7 and now after 6 days it is getting up to almost 7.9 and dipping back down below 7.8 during lights out.

Fish are doing well, but my question is should I add more buffer or something else, or should I just wait it out?

As of a few minutes ago alk was at 6.1 dKH (Hanna Checker)

Ph reported is from a Seneye, I checked it against my calibrated Ph pen tester and it reads about .05 lower than the seneye.

I did go back and check the salt water I used to fill, and the PH is about 8.1 - 8.2 after mixing.

 

[Montu]

Well I guess it was a dumb question..I did my water change and that helped the PH..currently at about 7.86 shortly after lights on...PH stayed above 7.8 during lights out.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Low pH when alk is above 6 dKH is due to excess CO2 in the water, and not anything else.

I discuss low pH issues and how to fix it here:

pH And The Reef Aquarium
http://www.reefedition.com/ph-and-the-reef-aquarium/

 

[Montu]

Hi Randy, I did use your write up to troubleshoot, CO2 was not the problem..the house has an air exchanger that runs 45 mins out of the hour plus I left a window in that room open all day. I was going to buy an air stone becauae I figured maybe there just wasn't enough aeration in general even though I have a skimmer and the water surface is turbulent.

Anyway, for now the pH is better after the 40 percent water change..maybe the cycle wasn't completely done at first?

 

[Osiel Alvarado]

Hi, i have used the red sea test kit and never got orange. Also, i found the seneye PH and temp readings are really inaccurate. My Apex seems to be giving the correct readings. I tried changing slides on my seneye and it didn't work. It would read 7.6PH and my redsea kit was showing 8.2 PH and the Aped 8.1. Just a thought.

 

[Montu]

I've been trying to take NO3 measurements and those seem unbelievably high as well...I know they share some of the same regents...I'll guess I'll have to pick up an API kit for that as well.

About the SenEye.. I'm not sure what it is..my last slide the PH was off and I used the +/- function to correct it ..this slide is pretty good.

I Just compared it to the Drop test which said ph was in between 7.8 and 8.0 ..the SenEye says 7.87 and my Electronic PH tester says 7.79 ... not sure which to believe lol

Alk: dKH 7.2

 

[kingston.buck]

Is there a lfs you could take a water sample too to have them test and compare your results against theirs?

 

[Montu]

I ended up picking up an API kit for Nitrate last night..looks like it was right..it was just off the scale for the Red Sea test (just under 90 on the API) I immediately took the filter socks out and ran them in the wash, I will try and siphon out excess food on a water change I am going to do later today and re test.

Everything seems to be doing well in the tank..how much of a concern is Nitrate in the 90 ppm range?