Ammonia Test Results (API Freshwater Test Kit)

[AKLB]

Hi everyone,

I'm just over a month into fishless cycling my aquarium and my results seem very strange. My nitrites have been off the scale since the first week of cycling. Yesterday and for the past two weeks my ammonia has dropped to 0ppm within 24 hours of dosing it to 2ppm. However, when I tested it today it's completely different;



I tested it first (far right) and the result was a deep turquoise which doesn't match any of the colours, so I retested. I did a second test (middle) which was a similar turquoise colour but slightly darker so I'm not sure if it's just off the scale or 8ppm. Whilst I was waiting five minutes for the results the first test went a murky yellowish brown which you can see in the picture (far right). I retested again, and the third result (far left) is a green which roughly matches 2-4ppm. The second test is still a turquoise.

I'm not sure if I did the first test wrong, but I made sure I counted the drops correctly on the second test. Why would there be a difference in results?

Is it normal for the ammonia levels to stay the same/increase even though it's been perfect for the past two weeks?

Also, do you think my cycle will be done soon? Is there any way to speed it up a bit?

 

[Barliman]

Can you take a sample to your local fish shop and have them test the water as a double-check?

 

[AKLB]

Retested again today to quadruple-check and it's still coming up with a dark green which eventually turns into a turquoise. I'm so confused because it's been 0ppm for the past two weeks. I'll try and visit a pet shop to get them to test it soon, but in the meantime does anyone have any explanations?

 

[Barliman]

I'm drawing a blank. Yours is a fishless cycle, so there are no unaccounted for corpses... Have you added food recently?

 

[toolman]

Puzzling, something has to account for the ammonia spike?

 

[TMaier]

What's in the tank? Sometimes decor is the culprit.

 

[AKLB]

There's a bunch of live plants and a few snails that came in with them. I tested again today and it seems to have dropped to 0.5ppm. I'll check again tomorrow, it just seems bizarre that it rose and fell from 0ppm to over 8ppm to 0.5ppm within a few days

 

[AKLB]

Within the last week my nitrite has dropped to between 0 and 0.25ppm after a month of over 5ppm. My ammonia eventually falls to zero but this is over the course of several days when it would previously fall to 0ppm after dosing it with 2ppm within a day. I still don't have a clue why this is happening, can anyone help?