Is my cycle stalled...

[martini57]

I am a little concerned that my tank is at a standstill cycle wise. After having to start all over approx a week and a half ago, I haven't seen much change.
Water parameters: amm-0.25 up until yesterday when it got closer to 0.5
Nitrite-0, except for 1 day when it went up to 0.25-0.5, then back to 0
Nitrate- 20-30
Ph-8.2
Sg- 0.002
Temp-79 f

Lfs confirmed the levels, so the test isn't wrong. I did a 40% wc yesterday. After wc : amm- between o
0 and 0.25, nitrite-0, nitrate- 10, maybe a little higher but not much.

Puffers look fine and are acting normal. I guess I just thought that after a week I would see some kind of change

[sgtmyers88]

Have you tested your water supply? Might be the next step. Something is definitely off.

[martini57]

Yeah I did. Water/nitrite 0 ppm, nitrate around 10. pH-7.2, straight from the tap. The water around here is hard though, I live in a beach town so I think that probably has something to do with it. When I had to essentially start over, I added tetra safe start plus from petsmart, used as directed. I also have some stability on hand, should I start using some of that? I use prime to prep the water, could that be affecting anything? I am using the API freshwater master test kit, not the strips. I even watched videos to make sure that I was using it correctly. I looked at all the dates on the bottles, and the manufacture date on them is April 2014, so they aren't old at all.

[nzac]

I can't remember where i read it before but prime can cause false ammonia readings when tested with certain test kits. will see if I can find that. if you have nitrAte there has to be some of each bacteria living in your filters/tank.

second and third question/answer on seachems site, linked below. prime in combination with api ammonia test kit...

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html

[sgtmyers88]

What was the Ammonia reading? Some water supplies have been known on occasion to have trace amounts of Ammonia.

[martini57]

the ammonia reading out of the tap is 0 ppm. it does say on seachems website that prime dissipates within 24-48 hrs, but I still got the same results between doses after the prime should have been gone and before I did the water change.

[martini57]

I can't remember where i read it before but prime can cause false ammonia readings when tested with certain test kits. will see if I can find that. if you have nitrAte there has to be some of each bacteria living in your filters/tank.

second and third question/answer on seachems site, linked below. prime in combination with api ammonia test kit...

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/Prime.html

so after reading this, I deicded to test the water that I had mixed to do water changes with, after being treated with prime. as well at the tank water, and tap water.
tap water- amm 0, nitrite 0, nitrate around 10
WC mixed water- amm 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 10
tank water- amm 0.25, nitrite 0, nitrate 20-30

So I guess I got my answer! prime has to be causing it. nzac, thank you! makes sense, because the LFS used the same tests, and when we did a strip just to see I didn't believe it because I figured it wasn't accurate or as sensitive as the liquid tests.

[RTR]

Test strips are not reliable. If they have had air exposure for any length of time, they are a waste of time.

[martini57]

the 2 LFS that I went to used liquid tests. because they got the same readings that I did, in addition we did a test strip to see if there was a difference. the test strip didn't register any ammonia so I figured it was innacurate. but it was definitely the prime that caused the low false positive, as I checked the tap water before prime, and the mixed water with prime, and the tank water.

[martini57]

Just so everyone knows, I talked to someone from seachem and they said that the prime probably caused the slight increase. The reading is now zero