No Fish..But Ammonia Reading?

[brendac]

Im so worried because I have a golden strip maroon clown coming to me on tuesday and I have just tested my water and very odd cause I have no fish in there...I only have Invertabrates and a anemone in my tank.My aquarium is 125g and about 1 week ago I did a water change of 18g just because I felt I should.Now this morning I have a ammonia reading of 0.25 and a nitrite reading of 0...my nitrates are around 15. I use Pharmaceuticals test kits...is that brand of kit not that good? I dont know if I should worry about the readings or let it just go being there is nothing to really cause a AMMONIA READING???

This tank is well over cycling been around 3 months up.

 

[drew2005]

Originally Posted by BrendaC
Im so worried because I have a golden strip maroon clown coming to me on tuesday and I have just tested my water and very odd cause I have no fish in there...I only have Invertabrates and a anemone in my tank.My aquarium is 125g and about 1 week ago I did a water change of 18g just because I felt I should.Now this morning I have a ammonia reading of 0.25 and a nitrite reading of 0...my nitrates are around 15. I use Pharmaceuticals test kits...is that brand of kit not that good? I dont know if I should worry about the readings or let it just go being there is nothing to really cause a AMMONIA READING???

This tank is well over cycling been around 3 months up.
Some test kits can show a .25 reading. If its been 3 months im sure your tank is cycled. I would try and get the nitrates down more. At least 10ppm or less is ok. Do another water change and re test before you get the clown. If that doesnt help then your test kit is giving you a false ammonia reading.