Ammonia spike

[nicks8201]

Hey everyone I need some help here I have had my 75 gallon tank since February . My ammonia spiked to almost 1. I’m using the prime and doing water changes with the BRS 5stage RODI system Everything else is good
Ph-8.3
Nitrite-0
Nitrate-0
Phos-0
Salinity 1.025

 

[brandon429]

false read. post a full tank shot, fish and corals will prove why that was a false read.

ammonia cannot spike in a reef tank unless several fish die at once. not even a single fish will spike it (we have accurate measures from seneye on fish loss threads tracking ammonia to the thousandths, that's where it stays in post-cycle reefs)

in your full tank shot, the fish have to be hovering at the top, the water cloudy, and some deaths have to have taken place for the reading to be accurate. there is no time a true large ammonia spike is inconsequential, and we can see that consequence clearly without test kits. k post a full tank shot of the system currently.

_per red sea and api, most running reef tanks will show .25-.2 ammonia at all times, and only the rare kits show hard zero, so your testing is not out of line with all of reefing.

you can cease adding ammonia binders, they cause false reads too.

No need to buy bottle bac as well, the spike never happened if just a test kit said it, and not the entire tank.

 

[brandon429]

ammonia is the most controlled compound in reefing at all times. its so impossible to get a true spike, Im brainstorming ways it could happen:
-you add and sustain a massive dose of actual antibiotics into the reef
-half your fish die all at once due to some contam, that might possibly overcome the ability of the live rocks

 

[itsken37]

When l first had an ammonia spike i did a 50% water change then a 25% the next day, but is was on a smaller 13.5 so it sometime is harder on larger tanks. Then l changed my fish feeding schedule so i feed every other day or 3 days apart depending on the amount l feed. if it is a false read like brandon 429 says, what is the new reading? My ammonia spike was up to .5

 

[brandon429]

also added as a prediction: all kits indicating a spike are non seneye color guess kits.

if we have a seneye saying a reef isn't .00x nh3 that's a big deal. even in the 13 gal, if only a non seneye tester said it spiked, it didn't.

there is consequence 100% of the time for an ammonia spike / losses and water clouding.

in any case where the system looked fine, the spike was a non seneye reading misread.

*its possible to test tap water or new sw and get a true zero read, then back to the tank where it says .2 etc/ .1

that's still wrong, the kits we think are overreporting actual life conversions in the tank vs sterile water. There literally isn't any reef that spikes ammonia after a cycle, not any, unless we removed the live rock and killed things and also dosed an antibiotic. what ammonia does is predictable in all reefs, all the time, without any testing. its not a variable param (well it varies in the thousandths, under the levels any non seneye can report)

 

[nicks8201]

false read. post a full tank shot, fish and corals will prove why that was a false read.

ammonia cannot spike in a reef tank unless several fish die at once. not even a single fish will spike it (we have accurate measures from seneye on fish loss threads tracking ammonia to the thousandths, that's where it stays in post-cycle reefs)

in your full tank shot, the fish have to be hovering at the top, the water cloudy, and some deaths have to have taken place for the reading to be accurate. there is no time a true large ammonia spike is inconsequential, and we can see that consequence clearly without test kits. k post a full tank shot of the system currently.

_per red sea and api, most running reef tanks will show .25-.2 ammonia at all times, and only the rare kits show hard zero, so your testing is not out of line with all of reefing.

you can cease adding ammonia binders, they cause false reads too.

No need to buy bottle bac as well, the spike never happened if just a test kit said it, and not the entire tank.

 

[nicks8201]

also added as a prediction: all kits indicating a spike are non seneye color guess kits.

if we have a seneye saying a reef isn't .00x nh3 that's a big deal. even in the 13 gal, if only a non seneye tester said it spiked, it didn't.

there is consequence 100% of the time for an ammonia spike / losses and water clouding.

in any case where the system looked fine, the spike was a non seneye reading misread.

*its possible to test tap water or new sw and get a true zero read, then back to the tank where it says .2 etc/ .1

that's still wrong, the kits we think are overreporting actual life conversions in the tank vs sterile water. There literally isn't any reef that spikes ammonia after a cycle, not any, unless we removed the live rock and killed things and also dosed an antibiotic. what ammonia does is predictable in all reefs, all the time, without any testing. its not a variable param (well it varies in the thousandths, under the levels any non seneye can report)

It was weird yesterday it was down to .25 then up to 1 today

 

[itsken37]

Did you retest?

 

[nicks8201]

Yea and got 1 again I’m using the api test kit

 

[brandon429]

wheres that full tank shot/need to see the system in total. it will look great I bet/misreads here

 

[brandon429]

Oh I just saw!
yes its perfect, the tank looks as it should and the read is false. that system is .00x ppm nh3 we can tell by the pic meeting all predictions above.

 

[itsken37]

Test Distilled water. if it is not zero, your test kit is bad.

 

[nicks8201]

wheres that full tank shot/need to see the system in total. it will look great I bet/misreads here

Test Distilled water. if it is not zero, your test kit is bad.

Ok I’ll do that now

 

[Garf]

Test Distilled water. if it is not zero, your test kit is bad.

I think all hobby test kits struggle with pure water, good or bad.

 

[nicks8201]

It comes up 0 with the RODI

 

[itsken37]

I think all hobby test kits struggle with pure water, good or bad.

My api test kit gave me 0 when i tested distilled water

 

[itsken37]

Next recommendation : go to lfs and have them test it. if it is the same, do a 50% change today, and a 25% tomorrow. if it is different, get a new ammonia bottle

 

[nicks8201]

Ok I’ll try that

 

[brandon429]

There is nothing wrong with your tank, nothing required, just reef. we covered above why blanks read differently on distilled vs tank water. im out here/they're about to sell you unneeded things based on a misread we predicted instantly 1st post then the pics lined up.

you have an API test issue solely, we covered why seneye doesn't have this problem and api does. Your LFS/wont be using seneye as well, get ready for some unneeded purchases based on false reads.

final summary to close out the issue: your tank will run well day to day if you buy nothing.

if you buy something, it runs day to day regardless of what your non digital test kit says, the only difference is cash spent on items at the lfs.

The 13 gallon nano advising to go to lfs for a problem also had zero problem and only api/patterns.

neither of these systems had an ammonia spike, ever. a side benefit is you'll be helping the lfs stay in business that's good aspect. but you can also just offer them a donation too/same outcome for your tank either way.

 

[nicks8201]

I’m not going to buy anything just more salt and continue to do my water changes