Hi all, i'm new to the hobby and have a couple of questions i'm unclear about after reading some books and lurking on AA for like 3 weeks now.
I've purchased a 55gal for a freshwater setup. Setup the tank and waited until i got the temp stabalized. Went down to the LFS and picked up 5 zebra danios to start my cycle 1 week ago feeding them lightly.
Picked up an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit i checked my initial tap water results to make sure i was startiing out ok.
The book i've been following makes it sound like my ammonia levels should rise rather rapidly once my fish are added and i should be prepared to do PWCs. However after a week i'm still reading my ammonia levels at 0ppm. I don't want you to think i'm being impatient I just want to make sure i'm not performing the tests incorrectly. Is this slow build up of ammonia normal or am i doing something wrong and my ammonia is really higher and harming my fish?
I've just been skimming water off the top into the test tube, should i be doing something different? Also when comparing to the results to the card do you hold the tube up against the card (which makes the color appear darker) or do you just view it agaisnt' the background of the card?
Sorry for the long write up just wanted to make sure i provided enough information. THANKS
I've purchased a 55gal for a freshwater setup. Setup the tank and waited until i got the temp stabalized. Went down to the LFS and picked up 5 zebra danios to start my cycle 1 week ago feeding them lightly.
Picked up an Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit i checked my initial tap water results to make sure i was startiing out ok.
The book i've been following makes it sound like my ammonia levels should rise rather rapidly once my fish are added and i should be prepared to do PWCs. However after a week i'm still reading my ammonia levels at 0ppm. I don't want you to think i'm being impatient I just want to make sure i'm not performing the tests incorrectly. Is this slow build up of ammonia normal or am i doing something wrong and my ammonia is really higher and harming my fish?
I've just been skimming water off the top into the test tube, should i be doing something different? Also when comparing to the results to the card do you hold the tube up against the card (which makes the color appear darker) or do you just view it agaisnt' the background of the card?
Sorry for the long write up just wanted to make sure i provided enough information. THANKS