Ammonia Test Kit

[neon]

I have a bottle of Nutrafin Ammonia water test solution with no instructions.  Can anybody tell me how many drops to add to the small test tube of water?

[MikeM]

Fill the test tube to the line, add 6 drops of test solution and shake.  Anything but the faintest of yellow is dangerous, any yellow at all is cause for concern.

[neon]

I did that and there is no yellow.  I also tested 0 for nitrates and nitrites.  My tank is fairly new, and is very cloudy and murky.  Is this normal for a new set up?  I'm very tempted to do a water change but was told that the bacteria need to get established.

[darkdep]

How "fairly new"?

How old are the test kits?  The reagents don't last forever, unfortunately.  A tank being cloudy is normal for a while after being set up, it is bacteria establishing itself and it will clear.

[babblefish1960]

By very new I assume you mean very new, in this case, leave it alone, as the bacterial bloom you are experiencing is just that, a bacterial bloom, a part of the biological cycle and needing to sort itself out.  As all of your tests show zeroes, I would suspect too that the cycle has really only just begun and you are in for a ride of actual numbers soon enough. It will have to go through the ammonia stage (NH3), then the Nitrite stage (NO2-), then finally the nitrate stage (NO3-), at which point you will begin regular water changes.


edited for corrections

[charlie]

It will have to go through the ammonia stage (NH3), then the Nitrate stage (NO3-), then finally the nitrite stage (NO2-), at which point you will begin regular water changes.

Regards
I always thought it was - ammonia - nitrite then finally nitrate,

[darkdep]

It is, babble goofed for once

[babblefish1960]

Yes, yes, I created errata, it is corrected, and the point being that the only way to remove nitrates (NO3-) from the water is to remove the water itself, unless of course you practice growing emergent plants to perform this same function, however, that is an entirely other ball of wax.