Nitrite test oddities?

[190MPH]

Well I'm nearly into my 4 week of FL cycling, and I've been doing a daily regimen of tests. The ammonia is being removed in 10 hrs or less, and nitrate has been between 5-10 ppm. My question concerns the nitrite tests. It had peaked last week at the highest reading on the card(API). It has been steadily showing a decrease each day. I do my tests the same time every day. Yesterday and today, when I put the drops in the tube, they turn purple in the bottom until I shake for 5 sec. It gradually fades to a lighter purple and then an almost clear/slightly blue color at the 5 minute test time. I interpret this to be between 0 and .25 ppm. It continues to change to a light green after a few more minutes, but I assume this is meaningless. Am I interpreting these numbers right, which seem to show I'm nearly done?

Also, my well water which I have previously tested several times to show 0amm, nitrate and nitrite, showed .25 nitrite today. That test starts as a light blue in the tube and develops to the .25 color. Any idea why my water may now be showing nitrite? What would I do to eliminate this when I do water changes, conditioner?

Sorry for the long post and all the questions, I just like to be detailed about what is going on!

[mrs fishpatrick]

Looks like your nearly there
about the well water being o.25 nitrIte, is there any chance your testtube had a bit of old water in it?? (just a thought)

[Alfcea]

You should allow a reasonable amount of time for the test reactions to occur and show the real result. It definitely does sound like you are done. I think you are ready to add fish.

[Northernguy]

It sure sounds like you have completed your cycle!
As for your tests,sorry I use the Nutrifin kits!

[190MPH]

Thanks everyone for the replies. It is my hope that I am done or nearly done:shappy: . I'm pretty confident of it because I have been keeping a log of my tests and I can see the gradual rise and fall of the nitrite, so it definately peaked. Also, regarding the nitrite in my well, would I need to add a conditioner during water changes, or will the biological filter take care of it?

Mrs fish, it's highly unlikely that there was any old water in the tube because I'm very careful to rinse the tubes every time. Even before I do a new test of the tank water, I rinse the tubes once or twice with the tank water to be sure I get accurate results.

[190MPH]

I also ruled out a test kit problem by checking my sons 8g bowl. Drops went in the tube blue and after 5 minutes a sky blue 0ppm reading. I have been dosing 2ppm ammonia every 12 hrs,(the previous dose is always back to 0ppm) is this wrong, should it only be once a day?

[JCgirl]

Well I'm nearly into my 4 week of FL cycling, and I've been doing a daily regimen of tests. The ammonia is being removed in 10 hrs or less, and nitrate has been between 5-10 ppm. My question concerns the nitrite tests. It had peaked last week at the highest reading on the card(API). It has been steadily showing a decrease each day. I do my tests the same time every day. Yesterday and today, when I put the drops in the tube, they turn purple in the bottom until I shake for 5 sec. It gradually fades to a lighter purple and then an almost clear/slightly blue color at the 5 minute test time. I interpret this to be between 0 and .25 ppm. It continues to change to a light green after a few more minutes, but I assume this is meaningless. Am I interpreting these numbers right, which seem to show I'm nearly done?

Also, my well water which I have previously tested several times to show 0amm, nitrate and nitrite, showed .25 nitrite today. That test starts as a light blue in the tube and develops to the .25 color. Any idea why my water may now be showing nitrite? What would I do to eliminate this when I do water changes, conditioner?

Sorry for the long post and all the questions, I just like to be detailed about what is going on!

That's exactly what mine is doing right now. It turns to a very light green color after a while. (I posted another thread, but I'm not as detailed explaining the nitrite reading as you were.) That is exactly what mine is reading, except my ammonia isn't going away within 12 hours.

What's going on with our nitrite levels? :confused:

[190MPH]

Update: Todays numbers showed about 10ppm nitrate, nitrite is still an odd color and I'm suspecting it is still high because of the low nitrate level. In regards to nitrite showing up in my tap, I think I found my error. Not thinking, I'm pretty sure I had drawn warm water from my tap when I took my sample. This would mean it could have picked up many deposits in the hot water heater. I retested today making sure it was cold from the ground and lo and behold, 0ppm nitrite. Sound logical? I am going to keeping adding my 2-3ppm daily and see what happens. I was hoping I was nearly done, but now I don't think so, especially since it has been only 3 1/2 weeks. More to come.

[190MPH]

Todays numbers STILL .25ppm nitrite, STILL 10ppm nitrate. It been sitting like this for a week!