Water testing & tanin

[Phlegethon]

y 5.5 gallon tank has a piece of driftwood in it that leeches tanin - yellow water, fish seem to like it - but my Hagen testkit uses yellow to determine the level of ammonium in the water. I think the tank is cycled, smells right (wet dirt), but the test shows a low level of ammonium. Could that just be the tanin-tinted water producing this reading? Anyone else have this kind of experience?

I need to get a different kind of test kit obviously.

 

[Menagerie]

That is a major draw back to tanins. What do your nitrite and nitrate tests show?

 

[deli_conker]

How long has the tank been running?

 

[Phlegethon]

Nitrates and Nitrites look good. It's a 2-month old tank so it's probably just the tanin...

 

[deli_conker]

If you have no nitrItes but an ever increasing level of nitrAtes, then I wouldn't worry about it.

Did you treat your driftwood before you put it in your tank?