.50 ammonia
- Thread starter Mrod91
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slojim
Active Member
if there is livestock in your tank, you should probably add some water conditioner (like Seachem Prime or whatever brand you have) and do a water change. If you are just cycling a new tank without livestock, let it come back down and then do a water change to take care of the nitrate.
An uncycled new tank will have at least one spike, maybe more. I like the seachem ammonia badges for this purpose, and for quarantine tanks, since ammonia tests tend to take a while and it is a parameter that can change quickly. It's pretty cheap (~$10-12) and available at seemingly every pet store.
An uncycled new tank will have at least one spike, maybe more. I like the seachem ammonia badges for this purpose, and for quarantine tanks, since ammonia tests tend to take a while and it is a parameter that can change quickly. It's pretty cheap (~$10-12) and available at seemingly every pet store.
My tank is a 13.5 gal fluval sea, I have 8lbs of live rock. Using API saltwater master test kit.
The water I have been buying it already ready from the aquatics store.
I’ve done a 10% water change every week.
I currently have a pair of clownfish, a peppermint shrimp, & featherduster.
The water I have been buying it already ready from the aquatics store.
I’ve done a 10% water change every week.
I currently have a pair of clownfish, a peppermint shrimp, & featherduster.
muzikalmatt
Valuable Member
The API test kits are notorious for false positives with respect to ammonia. (I don't think mine ever actually registered as zero, even after fully cycling.) As others have mentioned, a Seachem ammonia badge would be helpful in determining if there is an actual ammonia level in your tank. However, if you've had livestock in your tank for a while and aren't seeing any signs of distress, it's likely a false positive.
Three weeks is fairly soon to have livestock in a new tank, but it's not unheard of especially since you're using live rock and not dry rock. I do think having a feather duster in a young tank is a little risky, but then again I added one to my tank after about 5 weeks and have had it for over a year now.
Three weeks is fairly soon to have livestock in a new tank, but it's not unheard of especially since you're using live rock and not dry rock. I do think having a feather duster in a young tank is a little risky, but then again I added one to my tank after about 5 weeks and have had it for over a year now.
pls post a tank pic.
Lapin did well in eliciting info about surface area.
the fact your animals are alive means two things: your ammonia is not in danger, and your live rock was real.
with pics, we can continue tracing out the ghost reading. We'll be looking for cloudy water, fish panting at the top nearly hanging on for life, they wont be distributed around the tank acting normally with water clear, if your ammonia ever hit .5 at all. it would cause a tank crash via inability to control ammonia in the thousandths ppm, where all reef tanks run when enough rock and sand is present.
this is usually the point someone buys more bottle bac; dont. resist, your ammonia reading is leading you to consider it in opposition to how the tank is about to look but we will change the direction w pics
multiple days with living fish: any system with rocks and sand is controlling ammonia in the thousands, not in the tenths ppm.
B
Lapin did well in eliciting info about surface area.
the fact your animals are alive means two things: your ammonia is not in danger, and your live rock was real.
with pics, we can continue tracing out the ghost reading. We'll be looking for cloudy water, fish panting at the top nearly hanging on for life, they wont be distributed around the tank acting normally with water clear, if your ammonia ever hit .5 at all. it would cause a tank crash via inability to control ammonia in the thousandths ppm, where all reef tanks run when enough rock and sand is present.
this is usually the point someone buys more bottle bac; dont. resist, your ammonia reading is leading you to consider it in opposition to how the tank is about to look but we will change the direction w pics
multiple days with living fish: any system with rocks and sand is controlling ammonia in the thousands, not in the tenths ppm.
B
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perfection. see this thread below as to why you skipped your tank's cycle, and good job doing it:
www.reef2reef.com
you have a zero free ammonia reef aquarium. Now if we just could have caught the 19,887 others who already bought bottle bac after cycling but were jostled by API ammonia, that money would be in the right pockets!
The microbiology of reef tank cycling.
You can skip your cycle. Ive been reefing online for twenty years and have never waited one second for a tank to cycle, because I buy rocks that are already cycled and move them home. Here's two: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/octo-high-end-sps-skip-cycle-build.713256/...
www.reef2reef.com
you have a zero free ammonia reef aquarium. Now if we just could have caught the 19,887 others who already bought bottle bac after cycling but were jostled by API ammonia, that money would be in the right pockets!
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no this tank is fully able, ready, and skipped the cycle. Bac that were on that rock werent dead after you moved wet rock home to use. thats how 90% of aquariums in a huge reef convention are instantly set up so they can sell us 12K$ anemones out of them
your ammonia tester cannot read low level well, your true ammonia would read .00x, something in the thousandths ppm/which is what accurate ammonia tests read across all tanks.
*your tester still has some use. if one of those clowns die, and rots in the rockwork, that api will likely spike back to purple its handy for indicating dynamic change but just not that critical .00x ppm safety zone, they tend to overreport those.
literally only a tester says your tank has a concern, nothing about the actual biology, we can trust the biology over API ammonia any day of the week. the thousands of people who all bought a second round of bottle bac after cycle was complete (or skipped) were felled by the classic inability of api to indicate free ammonia as it exists in a purple coralline reef, in the thousandths ppm.
your ammonia tester cannot read low level well, your true ammonia would read .00x, something in the thousandths ppm/which is what accurate ammonia tests read across all tanks.
*your tester still has some use. if one of those clowns die, and rots in the rockwork, that api will likely spike back to purple its handy for indicating dynamic change but just not that critical .00x ppm safety zone, they tend to overreport those.
literally only a tester says your tank has a concern, nothing about the actual biology, we can trust the biology over API ammonia any day of the week. the thousands of people who all bought a second round of bottle bac after cycle was complete (or skipped) were felled by the classic inability of api to indicate free ammonia as it exists in a purple coralline reef, in the thousandths ppm.
no this tank is fully able, ready, and skipped the cycle. Bac that were on that rock werent dead after you moved wet rock home to use. thats how 90% of aquariums in a huge reef convention are instantly set up so they can sell us 12K$ anemones out of them
your ammonia tester cannot read low level well, your true ammonia would read .00x, something in the thousandths ppm/which is what accurate ammonia tests read across all tanks.
*your tester still has some use. if one of those clowns die, and rots in the rockwork, that api will likely spike back to purple its handy for indicating dynamic change but just not that critical .00x ppm safety zone, they tend to overreport those.
literally only a tester says your tank has a concern, nothing about the actual biology, we can trust the biology over API ammonia any day of the week. the thousands of people who all bought a second round of bottle bac after cycle was complete (or skipped) were felled by the classic inability of api to indicate free ammonia as it exists in a purple coralline reef, in the thousandths ppm.
Ah now i understand.
well thank you so much for your help and knowledge!
Does that mean I can add more corals now?
Yes for sure I’m 100% certain, in my home they’d have come home w the rock 
that’s true skip cycle rock. We can tell it’s not painted liferock by its imperfection areas and by living attachments
that’s true skip cycle rock. We can tell it’s not painted liferock by its imperfection areas and by living attachments
