Filter Cleaning: I Made A Mistake

[Sophie]

Are you sure you're reading the test kit correctly? If it's been a few days, then it should be a bit more than 0.25ppm Ammonia surely? Have you got readings from every day so far?
Could the cloudiness be just where you removed the gravel? Will take time to clear, especially if you have no water polishing media etc.
Cloudiness isn't usually a symptom of a mini cycle?

 

[Skies]

Are you sure you're reading the test kit correctly? If it's been a few days, then it should be a bit more than 0.25ppm Ammonia surely? Have you got readings from every day so far?
Could the cloudiness be just where you removed the gravel? Will take time to clear, especially if you have no water polishing media etc.
Cloudiness isn't usually a symptom of a mini cycle?

(cloudy water actually isn't uncommon during a mini cycle) What happened was that I removed the gravel completely (same day I cleaned the filter housing), and then did a whole bunch of really huge water changes to clear up the water, I mean, BIG water changes, 50% one day, 50% the next and a 74% the day after that, noticed that my tank was getting cloudy afterwards, I knew what was happening, but there was really no point to test the water at that time because I had ran out of dechlorinator and needed to wait until payday to pick some up, so a couple of days had passed. I only have 1 fish in the 75g, so I wouldn't expect the ammonia to rise by very much. I've been testing with a API master kit for quite some time now, I always read the directions very carefully, just to be sure I don't mix up the steps for each test, and the results are very easy to read. The tests are correct. 

 

[Sophie]

0.25 can just be hard to differentiate in different lighting, not necessarily doing the test wrong but in one light it can be bright yellow and in the next, have a green tinge. Happens. So you've only tested it once during the time period?

 

[Sophie]

The only way to tell if you had a mini-cycle is by measuring ammonia and nitrite and see if there is any present in the water. 
 
Cloudy water is not due to nitrifiers - they can't multiply that fast. 
 
Your cloudy water is due to a sudden growth of heterotrophic bacteria that bloomed because when changing the water you stirred up from organics (from the filter pad, from the gravel, from ??) and those organics became food for the heterotrophs. Heterotrophs can divide every 20 to 30 minutes (versus nitrifiers which take 20 to 35 hours!) which is why you see cloudiness. 
 
Ammonia is produced by the heterotrophs degrading the organics so you might have a little ammonia or nitrite but like I said only way to tell is to measure them.
 
http/www.cichlid-forum.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=223180 

 
I stand corrected - I think? Lol. Tiredness from being up with a newborn all night is enough to knock anyone on their backside!

 

[Skies]

0.25 can just be hard to differentiate in different lighting, not necessarily doing the test wrong but in one light it can be bright yellow and in the next, have a green tinge. Happens. So you've only tested it once during the time period?

I took it outside in the sunlight and also in the brightness of my bathroom, definitely read 0.25ppm, I'm anal when it comes to things like that... heh.
 
... and also, congrats on your human fry!

 

[Skies]

Just did another test:
 
Ammonia: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate 5.0ppm
 
(I'm thinking that yesterday it was in between 0.25ppm and 0.50ppm as it was a darker shade of light green, although not quite the green of 0.50ppm. Today it is much lighter and an undeniable match to 0.25ppm)