wrong
 

ok apparently It was too dark to see my card last night because today the ammonia is STILL at 0.25. It hasn't budged from this in weeks. Is there anything i can do to move this along ? Why is it not changing?

amanda

Basically you're just waiting for the bacterial populations that convert ammonia to nitrite to reach the levels needed to reduce the ammonia to zero. Same for the other parameters. It takes as long as it takes. Sometimes a few weeks, sometimes a few months. How long has it been since your tank started cycling?

ok because it's been going for about 6 weeks now.........=/
I put some established rock from my 44 into it to help it along but doesnt' seem to be making a difference.... yet anyway.

amanda
actually i'm probably wrong on that one because I put the rock in before christmas =p So it's been longer than 6 weeks.

Sometimes it is difficult to read the colors properly on the test kit or if it is old it may not be working right. If you are in doubt try taking a sample in to your LFS and have them test it.

ok thanks alot =)

amanda

And if you use a water treatment like prime - you may get a false positive reading.

Andy

No I don't use prime or anything... I added some cycle awhile ago ...last week.
Anyway I just did some more tests and it says
Ammonia - 0.25
Nitrite - 0.5
Nitrate - 10

amanda

My Aquarium Systems nitrate and nitrite tests never ever detected anything. The fish and inverts don't seem to mind atm.

With those readings your tank is still cycling. It's just one of those things. I have actually never had it take that long but then again I usually start out with new live rock which has quite a bit of die off as I have to ship everything. So I get a huge ammonia spike and then the usual nitrite and nitrate. I would not add anything else like cycle as I think you might have just started it all over again. Not sure though as I have never used it.

I started with base rock and reef bones. The cycle was taking forever so I added some live rock from my 44. Thought it would help it along but I guess not...
Anything I can do to speed it up?
amanda