cycle acting strang

well test kits are less then 6months old, i must have misssed the spike considering i waited a few days before putting the shrimp in, it could have started cycling before i put the shrimp in and the shrimp just gave it a more food to feed off of and speed it up a little. ill leave the shrimp in till 2morrow when i go out to the lfs to bad its petco or petsupermarket they are the 2 closet to me all the other little lfs went under due to econ and the bigger pet stores. maybe ill pick up an api test kit while im there to do my own cross ref on it.

but like i said im still taking a sample to a lfs to get it checked

 

well it was the ammonia test that went bad, lfs showed a 1.0 on ammonia and 1.5 on nitrite so everything is going good with it. guess im getting a new ammonia test kit

 

That's good that you know what it is now and will have peace of mind that everything's right with the tank. It's funny how they can just go bad like that.

 

ik im debating on getting seachem or go with salifert agian, or maybe do seachem master kit and api master kit it sucks that salifert dosnt do a master kit
api is very good if you measure out the 5ml instead of going by what the line on the vial says just so happens MD has the api kit on sell to right now

 

For ammonia, I really like the Seachem Ammonia Alert. Once your cycle is done, you won't ever need to test for nitrites. That leaves pH and nitrates. I use my controller to monitor pH. And I don't think the API tells you much as far as Nitrates; mine only ever reads 0. I know I need something with more accuracy to be of any use. I believe the Salifert or Red Sea nitrate kits would be far more beneficial than the API in this case.

 

thats why im still debating and weighing options and seeing what ill really need when the cycle is done

i still havnt convinced my wife to let me get a controller

probably just going to get the seachem master kit or just another salifert ammonia cause i do have the red sea nitrate phosphate kit that are still brand new they are less then 3 months old

 

i just ordered the seachem cause if i ever have doubts on if its gone bad ill take it 30 mins south to a awsome lfs that uses 3 diff test kits (ik they do over kill but better safe then sorry) when you bring in a water sample but i read the reviews and all that and they are just to mixed and ive used seachem from when i did FreshWater and always like thier products and customer service