When Is Green Green?

[waterdrop]

So RD makes it sound so simple: Just run that ppm right out there to a nice 5 to 6 parts per million and keep it that way, right?

Does anybody else have trouble deciding when their green tube is between the 4.0 and the 8.0 (evergreen tree I'd say!) on the API liquid test for Ammonia? You put them in the sunlight, you put them near a bright lamp, you let everyone in the house take a look and give their opinion...

It's just a big fat guess, isn't it? I'm guessing the best we can do with this test is decide that yes, maybe it's a little darker than 4.0 and it's not quite 8.0 but saying it's a 5 or 6 and not a 4 seems quite hard with this test. Am I just a color-insensitive dude?

C'mon Mods, the howling newbies want to know: What's going on in your head when you look at those greens?

~~waterdrop~~ (yes, probably too much coffee again..)

 

[Davo86]

I have great difficulty with these too, but then again apparently i'm quite colourblind,
colourblindness test

 

[waterdrop]

I have great difficulty with these too, but then again apparently i'm quite colourblind,
colourblindness test

No, I have no problem of color blindness, always pass those tests with flying colors
Thanks for posting that test link though!
~~waterdrop~~

 

[waterdrop]

Forgot to mention the context is fishless cycling.

No one else has trouble with this? Just curious if you think like me when comparing these colors on the ammonia test or if experience makes you better somehow...

 

[rdd1952]

You mean you can't tell the difference between 4 & 8 ppm? Man, I have trouble telling the difference between .25 and .5. And nitrate is impossible. It really is mostly guess work. As long as I get soething that looks close to the 2 to 4 range, I'm fine with it. I try not to get much higher than 4 as too much ammonia can seem to stall things. I just though it was me that couldn't tll the difference.

 

[jdyer]

I know exactly how you feel. I'm fishless cycling my tank at the moment, and keep having to get second opinions on what I'm seeing.
(On an un-related note though - yippee, tank got to 0.5ppm (or maybe .25, couldn't really tell) this morning), so cycling seems to be finally getting somewhere).

 

[rdd1952]

It's not terribly important exactly what the level is. I just used 4 to 5 in the thread as a general point to shoot for. I'm sure you could easily cycle it with 2 ppm as I seriously doubt that a full stock of fish will produce any more ammonia than that in a days time.

 

[waterdrop]

It's not terribly important exactly what the level is. I just used 4 to 5 in the thread as a general point to shoot for. I'm sure you could easily cycle it with 2 ppm as I seriously doubt that a full stock of fish will produce any more ammonia than that in a days time.

Oh, OK. I was kind of watching it for two reasons:
1) It sounded in the article like 5 to 6 was a starting amount and then after it finally drops down to 1 or so then 3 to 4 becomes the level to bring it back up to each time. I probably read too much into it thinking those were two different plateau levels to try and keep distinct from each other. Now that I'm getting to test different levels I see that the range 4-7 can seem pretty general.

2) I know I saw some other thread on TFF somewhere where someone was claiming that putting overly high levels of ammonia in for fishless cycling would promote a "bad" type of bacteria (either instead of or in addition to the good bacteria, didn't say)... (is this true or does anyone remember this?)

~~waterdrop~~