cycle acting strang

so i started cycling my tank using a few pices of shrimp, i havnt got a ammonia spike but i got a nitrite spike. i always thought its went ammonia then nitrite then nitrate, am i wrong on this. im just concerned on this cause i just started cycling last week and never detected ammonia at all during this. im using salafert for both ammonia and nitrite

 

Do you mean those things you leave in the aquarium to check for ammonia and nitrite? I've tried those and my experience along with a ton of other people is that they are unreliable. Also, I believe they don't turn back meaning once the nitrite is detected and shown, the color doesn't go back even if the nitrite goes down.

I'd use liquid tests. You might even be able to return yours saying they didn't work properly to get some extra cash for a good test kit.

 

Yup Nitrogen Cycle.

Ammonia-----Nitrites------Nitrates.

Did you use live rock?

 

i used salifert test kit, as in pulling water out puting in little cup adding the chem and then letting it develop.

like i said i never once detected ammonia in the water i test 2 days after i had started the cycle, but never detected and ammonia only nitrites on day 3 and today nitrites were at 1, unless maybe i missed the ammonia

no live rock just a few pices of raw shrimp.

 

Ah, I remembered the other product being called safe alert but maybe I'm just remembering it wrong. It's possible you just missed it from not constantly checking it, I'd still keep monitoring it for a couple weeks and see what happens. It's also possible your kit isn't good, especially if old. Pretty much any pet store does checks for free so you could bring some water in and see what happens.

 

nah the test are still good they are good till 2014 soo idk i think i missed it

 

You either have to had missed the spike or the test kit is bad.

 

Test kits can still be bad. I'm guessing opening them and having them sit for years lowers the date some since the original date is still assuming that if opened, it will be used in x number of days. There also have been people who have claimed to have a new or pretty new test kit that was either not detecting or was getting false positives. I'd definitely do the free check somewhere nearby.

 

Another possibility--- since it's only been one week, you may actually be getting a false positive on the nitrite. I agree, the kit can still be bad; you should get your LFS to double-check your water or buy another test kit. I personally like to keep two on hand for just such an instance.

 

Mm then ill get a new test kit. Probably get api salifert or redsea ill have to see