API test kits

[Harriet]

i’m super confused on what is going on i use API liquid test kits to test my water i have a tank that is currently cycling but appears to be finished it was at 5 weeks i tested the water the nitrites had dropped to 0 and the nitrate had risen to 5 what confused me is that the ammonia was still at 0.25 and very clearly green not even a chance it was yellow so i got mega since the nitrites have dropped to zero when being 0.25 the last test and the nitrates have risen from 0 to 5 from the last test, so i tested a tank i have for two years and is most definitely cycled and have always had yellow readings from and it was 0.25 too which it definitely isn’t, could this be just false readings if so how should i clean the tubes to fix this i usually just rinse them in them in water and leave them out to air dry

 

[Aiken Drum]

Test some bottled water and compare it with your tank water. The bottled water should be 0ppm. Its a fairly common issue that 0ppm looks like 0.25ppm, especially when not looked at against white background and not in strong light.

 

[Harriet]

i always use the card as a white background and go outside for the natural light i’ll do the bottled water thing now as i just washed the tubes out

 

[Harriet]

i just tested some bottled water and it’s gone green what could be the problem?

 

[Harriet]

i let the tubes soak in some lukewarm water to see if it could be that they weren’t clean enough then they air dried so i’m totally lost now could it be the actual ammonia solutions

 

[Harriet]

the reading looks an even stronger green it looks like 0.50 which is impossible

 

[Aiken Drum]

Get a new ammonia test kit