Ammonia keeps climbing?

brandon429 · Apr 27, 2021

Hey what’s the current level of nh3 as of now

TCoach · Apr 27, 2021

brandon429 said:
Hey what’s the current level of nh3 as of now

IslandLifeReef · Apr 27, 2021

TCoach said:
@brandon429 - Here is some interesting data analytics from my Seneye data.

Assumptions -
1. All data is valid
2. Reef ammonia consumption is consistent

1. Initial spike during move to 0.014 was consumed in 240 minutes or 0.000054 ppm/min consumption.

2. First spike at 4/24/2021 2:32 AM to 4/24/2021 12:02 PM rose 0.016ppm or .000082 ppm/min a net of .000028 ppm/min rise (total rise - initial spike consumption or 0.000082 - 0.000054)

3. Big spike from 4/24/2021 2:02 PM to 4/25/2021 1:47 PM rose from 0.017 to 0.056 or again .000082 ppm/min with a net of .000028 ppm/min.

Did 25% water change and added 2 powerbeads to flush left over "live" food.

4. Long slow drop: repeat at 04/25/2021 08:29pm @ 0.51ppm to 04/26/2021 9:02 PM @ 0.014 or an average drop of 0.000025 ppm/min. Given that the reef can consume 0.000054 ppm/min, I'm still having 0.000029ppm of Ammonia being produced somewhere. (0.000054 ppm - 0.000025 ppm).

So, my reef in it's current state can consume 0.000054 ppm/min post RIP clean and move. Do you think this sounds normal? Would be interesting to do a more controlled experiment to confirm once the NH3 levels return to normal. Does this tell you anything about the condition of the reef? Do you have any comparison numbers?

Right now, I'm back to flake feed only (what prior owner fed), so what ever is stuck in the reef can finish being processed w/o any additions. However, I do want to get back to live/fresh frozen food to help build up the immunity of my guys and keep heading towards a PaulB type longevity reef.

TCoach said:
I guess based on all the talk, I was expecting the alarm at .050 to be very threatening to the fish. Seeing the number start to rise and really climb just set off my fish protection instinct.

I guess I also inferred from some of the comments that we had a FP issue too.

I totally understand being concerned about the health of your fish. While technology is great, I also think it can be paralyzing. The Seneye measures NH3, which is different from total ammonia, down to the thousandth part per million. That equates to a 1 to 1,000,000,000 ratio, or one part ammonia to 1 billion parts water. Seeing a rise may make you think that something is wrong with the tank when in reality, everything is functioning as it should. The rip clean caused a small die off of living organisms on the rock and the system responded properly and cycled the ammonia. The bacteria population probably increased due to the greater availability of ammonia. All of that information made you think something may be wrong due to the preciseness of your equipment when in reality, if the equipment wasn't as precise, you wouldn't have known the difference.