i recently just took out ammo-chips from my tank after i realized they don't allow the tank's cycle to continue naturally. They had been in there awhile without me recharging them and i didn't even pay attention to them too much. my question is....do ammo chips, or water treated with ammo-chips distort ammonia and other test readings? I know that ammo-lock makes getting an accurate test of ammonia almost impossible and i am wondering if i can trust the readings in my tank (0.0 ammonia, 0.0 nitrite after 3 days of taking ammo-chips out). any information will be helpful, thanks

Ammo chips should not affect your total chlorine test results. One of the main reasons that ammo chips do harm the developing cycle is that they bind ammonia such that it is no longer "ammonia" and the BB cannot strip it back out and use it.

If your ammochips had been in your tank for quite a while (more than a week in a standardly stocked tank?), chances are they were "full" already and no longer working.

I cannot explain your lack of ammonia/nitrite or nitrate, though, unless you have a very lightly stocked big tank, a heavily planted tank, you just did large water changes that makes the readings so little you cannot tell or your test kit is not accurate.....