[iapetus]

Well, it'd be a great if there were a more objective way to determine readings between colors, but there simply isn't. You have to estimate. I find it to be frustratingly subjective, but there's not much that can be done about that. You've got to live with it.

As far as where you should go from here, I say that you should just keep adding ammonia and monitoring your water parameters. It's encouraging that your ammonia levels fell and that you're seeing nitrites. But, I'm not sure there's really anything you can do about the break in your ammonia dosing -- you should just keep moving forward as though it didn't happen, I think.

Waiting for the nitrites to drop can be the longest, most trying part of the process.