That's true Sarah. Water changes during a "Cycle" will only "soften" or prolong the actual event. But this person is "Curing Live Rock" which is not the cycle you're thinking of. This is done to allow the dead and decaying matter on the live rock to "Cure" and become inert before placing it into your tank which other wise would cause a HUGE cycle to start in the tank. Changing the water helps keep the smell down some and exports some of the "crud" that is decaying. The reason you test the water is the same as for a cycle.. to tell when the decaying is complete and it's ready to place into your main tank.
Hope this helps
I've read that those ultra high ammonia levels (mine were off the charts) will kill stuff on the rock that normally wouldn't have died off. The curing instructions from liveaquaria also states to make twice weekly water changes on the rock.
Anyhow, its not the test kit. I've performed several tests, in 4 different test tubes. I've even done a test in my main tank (tested light blue, or zero), rinsed the tube, then tested the rock water (gray), then tested the main tank water again (blue again) to eliminate any possible inconsistencies with the test kit.
Its strange because normally when something is high, like ammonia, the test kit will slowly darken and the colors will cycle through everything on the chart. With this nitrite test, it goes from a light blue when the blue droplets are put in straight to gray. It never goes through the pinks.
