I don't understand my values / Is my testkit useless ?

[winzdk]

I have redone my tank, but with new soil and plants, the tank got a good cleaning and so did the filtermedia and the stones. There was a period of 10 days with the filter off (with old water and filtermedia still in), so I guess the old bacteria was all dead.
I have roughly followed this startup guide, but with 50% WC's on day 3 and 30% on day 7. And I dosed the amount it says without regard to the "for every *mg/L" :

I am now on day 16 and did my first water test (yes I know), and this is the results:
Ammonia <0,05
Nitrite 0,05
Nitrate 35

Dosing without Nitrate and Phos.

I am using this testkit from JBL:

I bought the testkit 3 years ago and this is the expiration date:

I also tested with an old striptest:

I know it's probably difficult to inteperate the results, when I didn't do the test until now, but maybe someone has been in a similar situation or can give a qualified guess
Obviously I'm going to test again in a few days to see where I am in the cycle, but is my teskit even reliable ?
And should I do a WC now or wait ?
Other advices ?

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

Obviously I'm going to test again in a few days to see where I am in the cycle, but is my teskit even reliable ?

Nitrate test kits are quite problematic, <"they can work">, but there <"are a few proviso's">.

Personally I just let the plants grow in now, once they are in active growth you can use that as an indication of "cycle".

Dosing without Nitrate and Phos.

I'd probably start <"adding some">, if you have a floating plant you can wait until they indicate nutrient levels are dropping, or you can add a minimal amount after water changes.

cheers Darrel

 

[winzdk]

Personally I just let the plants grow in now, once they are in active growth you can use that as an indication of "cycle".

Hi Darrel
Thanks a lot for the response. I'm gonna follow your advice. So far there is no sign of too little or too much of anything and no plants are showing any deficiency, apart from my Anubias Snow White, which have all melted
I'm just trying to be on top of things

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

apart from my Anubias Snow White, which have all melted

<"Poor little things">, I'm not sure that tells you much, anything with very little chlorophyll is going to struggle.

cheers Darrel

 

[winzdk]

anything with very little chlorophyll is going to struggle.

I knew it was not going to be easy, but thinking they would have really good conditions in my tank, I would give it a try. I have yet to see anyone having success with them.
If you saw how mine came from the manufaturer, you would also have very little faith in success. About 10-12 individual plants in each pot. Each was 4-5 leaves 0,5cm in lenght tops, connected by a 2-3mm "rhizome" stilk.
I guess the prices on these, makes the manufacturer wanna sell them before they are ready.
Would not buy again, unless they are at least the size as Anubias Petite pots.

 

[winzdk]

Reading this thread on TPT, I'm thinking the bacteria might have survived or at least went dormant for the 10 days in the filter (it is a big filter after all) and it has kickstarted the cycle, which woud explain the numbers I guess.
I even use Tropica Soil (a lot!), which would at least give some amonia reading.
I'm doing a WC in the next 2 days and will make a reading before and after.