Ok everyone...finally I get to start cycling my tank tomorrow! Only thing I need is a light and thats in the mail!

I tested my water today just to get a base reading before I start tomorrow and here are the readings:

pH- 7.8
Ammonia- 0.25
Nitrite- 0
Nitrate- 0 (very happy my tap water reads 0 btw!)

Why am I getting a small reading on my ammonia if there aren't even fish in it yet? Could this be a false positive test? I will test again tonight and check again. I added Prime to the water not too long before the test...didn't know if that would affect anything at all.

Sometimes my tap water has ammonia readings too. Usually it happens when there is a lot of run off.

Test your tap water...

Ok...retested the tank water and the ammonia is 0.25 and I also tested my tap water and it has the same reading of 0.25ppm.

We have had a lot of rain and melting snow lately so if yours reads the presence of ammonia b/c of that maybe that is why mine is as well.

Am I going to run into any problems because of it? Gonna be hard to get the ammonia levels down if I'll be adding ammonia in with every water change.

Oh, and i'm also going to try that API Stress Zyme additive to see if it makes any difference at all. I read the "how to cycle a tank" article on here and Penn mentioned using it on smaller community tanks with some success so I figured i'd give it a shot and see if it helps any with cycling my 90 gallon.

oh and another dumb question maybe...but with the water test kit should I be using the same test tube for the same test everytime? I wasn't sure if you can just rinse them out and and use any of them for any test or if I should label the tubes and use them each for one specific test? Sorry if that didn't make sense.

i just wash the tubes in tapwater without soap.
Next test i will flush out the tubes with tankwater before i take the new water into the tubes.
I only got 2 glass tubes to do all my tests.

Noddy wrote:


Thanks Noddy...just wanted to make sure I was doing it right and not getting goofy readings! Appreciate the help!

woohoo! Get to get my little feeder goldfish in about an hour or so and start cycling!!! Can't believe i'm finally at this point! Just glad everyone is here to help...makes me not worry so much!

Way to go Ryan.... Soon you will be watching your new baby Oscars swim around the tank!

Nickisue wrote:


Thanks Nicki! I can't wait!!! And I appreciate all the help you've given me btw!

Have you spoke to your water company, They have maximum limits on levels in tap water. You may find ammonia isnt allowed and the water company will have to investigate and remove the ammonia

delboybully wrote:


Yeah if I test again and ammonia shows up in the tap i'm gonna call the water company and have the m come take a look at it.