Our aquarium was started on the 25th of April. We never saw any peaks. The Ammonia is now 0, the Nitrates are <10 the Nitrites are <0.2, the PH seems to be dropping and is now 8.0, and the Alkalinity is 4.0 which seems to be fairly constant. All these results have been achieved using an Instant Ocean Master test kit.
We just got this test kit last Saturday, we were taking a sample of our water to Houston once a week to have it tested, and the lady at the store said that we most likely missed the peaks. Since getting the kit we've been testing every day prior to adding calcium (1 tsp) and water.
We have purchased an RO unit and have been adding approx. 1 gallon of water a day.
We're just a little concerned that we've never seen any real high peaks. We have a 55 gallon tank with 78lbs of rock as you can see in our photos.
Do we need to wait longer?
Although the sand and rocks are turning brown....
When do we need to try and get the PH up and the Alkalinity to come down a little?? Or are we ok for now?