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My water parameters have been all over the place. Here are my readings:
august 3rd
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: .25 ppm
nitrate: 5 ppm

august 4th
pH: 7.6
ammonia: 0 ppm
nitrite: .25
nitrate: more than 0 but less than 5 ppm

I made a 25% water change and instead of using Aqua Safe like I usually do, I used Amquel because according to the bottle it "does not interfere with the biological cycle in aquariums...". After I started using AmQuel, however, my readings were really of the charts:

August 7th
pH: 7.6
ammonia: more than 0 but less than 5 ppm
nitrite: .5 ppm
nitrate: 5 ppm

August 8th
pH: 7.4
ammonia: .25 ppm
nitrite: .5 ppm
nitrate: 5 ppm

These readings really don't make any sense to me and I'm wondering if my switching water conditioners has anything to do with it. I've had my 10 gal set up and running for almost 3 weeks, 2 weeks with 5 danios. The fish appear to be happy and healthy; their color is good, they're active and aren't swimming erratically at all.

Any ideas?? BTW I'm using Aquarium Pharmaceuticals Freshwater Master Test Kit.

Have you tested your water straight from its source? Test it after you use your dechlorinator also. It could already have a .5 ppm trace amount of nitrate and if chloramine is use instead of chlorine in your water supply then that would cause a trace amount if ammonia in your new water. Amquel would remove the chlorine but since chloramine is a molecule made of both chlorine and ammonia the ammonia is still left behind. Now if I remember right amquel does "detoxify" the ammonia but it is still readable on test kits.

Sophie,

Amquel will give you a very strong false positive for ammonia.

CONTRAINDICATIONS AmQuel should not be added to water containing active, therapeutic dosages of chemical dyes such as methylene blue, acriflavine, potassium permanganate or malachite green, since AmQuel will interfere with their proper performance. Combining AmQuel with these dyes will not result in toxic chemical by-products. AmQuel is compatible to use with all water quality test kits except for the ammonia test kit that uses Nessler reagents that read in shades of amber or yellow, and the oxygen kit that uses Winkler reagents. Residual AmQuel and its reaction products are incompatible with the Nessler and Winkler-type test reagents, resulting in false, high ammonia and low oxygen concentration readings. All other types of test kits produce accurate test results, such as ammonia test kits using salicylate-type reagents. Kordon's AquaTru Test Kit #35970 for salt water and #35980 for fresh water are recommended for accurate test results. AmQuel will temporarily (for approximately 12 hours) lower redox. For more information see KPD-80, "About Conditioners".

http://www.novalek.com/kpd51.htm

If you continue to use the AmQuel, your tank will be cycled when your nitrites are 0. Double check your test results at your LFS.

Let's talk product cost. A 250 ml bottle of Prime is $5.99 at Fosters & Smith. A 16 oz. (473 ml) bottle of AmQuel+ is $6.99 at the same company. Mmmm, looks like Prime is much more expensive!

However, the standard dose of AmQuel+ is 5 ml per 10 gallons. You can attain the same results with Prime, have no false positive reading for ammonia and treat and treat at 1 ml per 10 gallons. Mmmm, maybe the math is getting confusing! Use 5 times more Amquel than Prime and get confusing ammonia results?

The cost of an AmQuel+ dose is 7.3 cents and Prime is 2.4 cents. In other words, spend $5.99 for the smaller bottle of Prime and get 250 standard doses for your 10 gallon or spend $6.99 for the larger AmQuel+ and get about 95 standard dose!

I love math!





__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright

Hmm.. Wesolowski makes a good point, but being that as it may how can a false positive ammonia reading produce elevated nitrite and nitrate levels? Does amquel affect these also? It does say "All other types of test kits produce accurate test results".

Either way I would still like if your water source has an initial nitrate reading and if chloramine is use instead of chlorine. It might be easier just to see if you can get a water quality report from your public water supply company, which I believe they must produce every year.

being that as it may how can a false positive ammonia reading produce elevated nitrite and nitrate levels?

Amquel should not affect nitrite and nitrate readings. Sophie's post indicated relatively low and stable nitrate readings at 5 ppm. Nitrite has increased from 0.25 ppm to 0.5 ppm without a rise in nitrates.

The rise in nitrites is indicative that the tank is cycling. This indicator appears to be borne out by the lack of increase in nitrates. A problem with measuring nitrites and nitartes is that the chemical compounds are similar and many test kits interpolate nitrate data. A secondary problem may be the presence of ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in Sophie's make-up water (tap water). A tertiary problem is that a new test kit may be "out of date" when purchased byh the hobbyist.

I concur that Sophie should test her tap water to establish a "base" reading of her make-up water for the aquarium. This base reading together with her current tank reading should be confirmed by the LFS or another hobbyist's test.



__________
"To steal ideas from one person is plagiarism; to steal from many is research."
researched from Steven Wright