Ammonia test reading

[Lori Wilson]

Hi,

When I do an ammonia test, I get almost an orange color. After a few
minutes, the orange particals start to percipitate and settle to the bottom
leaving a slight yellow tint to the water. I have been adding a lot of
cycle and prime to water. Could the test be reading a false high number?
Should I be looking at the clear light yellow color for test results?
Nirtrites are .5 and nitrates are 20. PH is 7.2 .

Frequent water chnges of 20 to 50% have not lowered ammonia level if the
orange color is what I should be reading. I have heard from lfs that adding
bacteria gives false ammonia readings. I am leaving for a week and really
wanted to get tank cycled. Maybe I over did the bacteria addition.

Thanks,

Lori



--
www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com

[NetMax]

"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hi,
>
> When I do an ammonia test, I get almost an orange color. After a few
> minutes, the orange particals start to percipitate and settle to the
bottom
> leaving a slight yellow tint to the water. I have been adding a lot of
> cycle and prime to water. Could the test be reading a false high
number?

Check your ammonia test. Does it measure NH3 & NH4 or just NH3? The NH3
is ammonia (toxic) which is of greater immediate interest. If it
measures both, then cross-reference the chart with the kit to see how
much is actually NH4 (non-toxic ammonium ions) at your pH of 7.2. I'm
doing this from memory, so check your kit's directions.

> Should I be looking at the clear light yellow color for test results?
> Nirtrites are .5 and nitrates are 20. PH is 7.2 .

Test kits from different manufacturer's use different color scales.
IIRC, Hagen is yellow for zero, Aquarium Pharmaceutical's is clear, and
Tetra's is ?, so your color reference not very useful. Particulates
settling in an ammonia test would not indicate anything good. Depending
on the particular test, it should be read immediately (ie: most pH tests)
or after a several minutes (ie: NO3 tests). What are the directions?

> Frequent water chnges of 20 to 50% have not lowered ammonia level if
the
> orange color is what I should be reading.

This is not unusual. Water changes to not cause a linear decrease. If
your ammonia is at 2ppm, a 50% water change will not make it 1ppm.

> I have heard from lfs that adding
> bacteria gives false ammonia readings.

I've never heard that, and don't know how it could be possible. Aerobic
nitifying bacteria do not play any part in supplying ammonia. Perhaps
the anaerobic bacteria are creating ammonia faster by decomposing
detritus in the gravel. The solution is to gravel vac more then. In any
case, ammonia is ammonia (see NH3 and NH4 explanation above), so why
would it be false if from bacteria?

I am leaving for a week and really
> wanted to get tank cycled. Maybe I over did the bacteria addition.

AFAIK, it's pretty tough to overdo the bacteria. I'd wager that most of
the bacteria you add dies off anyways. Only the bacteria which do not
find your water too hot, too cold, too acidic, too alkaline, too soft or
too hard will survive, and then start multiplying. Adding more bacteria
starter adds a lot more dead bacteria into your water column making a
bacterial bloom (cloudy water) more of a sure thing. JMO

NetMax

> Thanks,
>
> Lori

[Sarah]

Hi,

I'm sure some of the more experienced people on here will reply, but I
thought Id get the ball rolling. The particulates that you see are
probably debris where the ammonia has collected and therefore is
concentrated, hence the darker color. The yellow tint of the water is
the dissolved ammonia in the water. I don't think you're necessarily
getting false readings as this is the same thing that has happened to
me when I've cycled my three tanks.

Your nitrite level hasn't peaked yet so I would guess that there is
still ammonia in the tank. When the ammonia is completely gone the
particulate and the water will be perfectly clear. If you have any
doubts about the validity of your kit you can always take a sample of
water to your local LFS. They (should) be happy to test your sample
for you.

As for when your tank will be cycled, it depends on how long it has
been running. My smallest tank is a 5 gallon with 2 platies. That
one took 3-4 weeks to completely cycle. I doubt your tank will be
cycled before the week is out.

Hope this helped.


"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message >...
> Hi,
>
> When I do an ammonia test, I get almost an orange color. After a few
> minutes, the orange particals start to percipitate and settle to the bottom
> leaving a slight yellow tint to the water. I have been adding a lot of
> cycle and prime to water. Could the test be reading a false high number?
> Should I be looking at the clear light yellow color for test results?
> Nirtrites are .5 and nitrates are 20. PH is 7.2 .
>
> Frequent water chnges of 20 to 50% have not lowered ammonia level if the
> orange color is what I should be reading. I have heard from lfs that adding
> bacteria gives false ammonia readings. I am leaving for a week and really
> wanted to get tank cycled. Maybe I over did the bacteria addition.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lori

[Lori Wilson]

Thanks for the replies. I just will have to hope the few fish in the tank
make it through my vacation.

Lori



--
www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
"Lori Wilson" > wrote in message
...
>
> Hi,
>
> When I do an ammonia test, I get almost an orange color. After a few
> minutes, the orange particals start to percipitate and settle to the
bottom
> leaving a slight yellow tint to the water. I have been adding a lot of
> cycle and prime to water. Could the test be reading a false high number?
> Should I be looking at the clear light yellow color for test results?
> Nirtrites are .5 and nitrates are 20. PH is 7.2 .
>
> Frequent water chnges of 20 to 50% have not lowered ammonia level if the
> orange color is what I should be reading. I have heard from lfs that
adding
> bacteria gives false ammonia readings. I am leaving for a week and really
> wanted to get tank cycled. Maybe I over did the bacteria addition.
>
> Thanks,
>
> Lori
>
>
>
> --
> www.inharmonytravel.globaltravel.com
>
>

[Cris]

On Wed, 19 Nov 2003 18:25:49 GMT, "Lori Wilson" >
wrote:

>
>Hi,
>
>When I do an ammonia test, I get almost an orange color. After a few
>minutes, the orange particals start to percipitate and settle to the bottom
>leaving a slight yellow tint to the water. I have been adding a lot of
>cycle and prime to water. Could the test be reading a false high number?
>Should I be looking at the clear light yellow color for test results?
>Nirtrites are .5 and nitrates are 20. PH is 7.2 .
>

I've had this happen once, too. It was when I tried Cycle. Now that
I hear that someone else has had the same thing happen, I wonder if
it's not something else in Cycle that causes that. If I recall
correctly, the bottle says that it contains something that aids in
bacterial growth (other than the actual bacteria). Maybe only using a
lot of Cycle produces this test result?

Cris