New tank , cycling and test kit questions

[intranet]

Hi there and happy fathers day!

I was wondering if it was ok to use freshwater tests on a saltwater tank? i am trying to cycle the tank and right now I have a deluxe freswater test kit. I wanted to use the nitrite and ammonia , ph , gh kh etc.. tests if possible.

I tried them and got these readings :

Nitrite .05
Amm. .25
ph 8.2
sg 1.022

I have a dead piece of shrimp in there, I had a puffer and a scat in there while the salinity was a bit lower, but have moved them out. I also added a bottle of Fritz Zyme #9 , but had to do about a 1/5 water change to get some dead plants out of the bottom ( used to be my brackish tank and the puffer loved to eat the plants ) and to get the salt level down a bit.

I have a Regent ( not sure what model , came it the tank, same size as the millenium) and a Millenium 2000 running in it , I just put sand in there a couple of days ago and am trying to clear it up a bit.

Can anyone offer any advice? Am I doing this properly?

Thanks in advance,
intranet

 

[fishfreek]

I have found some freshwater kits will give false postive readings on ammonia. You can test your kit by testing freshwater then add some salt mix to the water. Let sit for a while and test the same water again.

Ideally it should test negitive for ammonia both times but if your kit tests saltwater as a false positive then the saltwater test smple should test positive eventhough there really is no ammonia.

 

[intranet]

well, i have 3 tanks, and no matter what i do they all seem to test the same. the solution that i put in the testing kit also seems very 'viscus' , like there are many long particles floating around in it. Its also very yellow, and the water seems only to dilute the yellow. Not sure if they testing fluid could be flawed ?

I just bought a piece of living rock and brought a sponge from an established tank to help in the cycling.

 

[fishfreek]

test the water diretly from your tap. Your tap water should not have ammonia in it. If your kit is testing positive for ammnia then good bet your kit has expired.

 

[intranet]

looks like thats the case, my tap water tested the same. grrr, the fish store is closed and now i am very curious as to the Real ammonia content :/

guess ill call walmart and see if they sell a kit

thanks very much