Ammonia test flukes

[santeeeyyy]

Hey so I just did a water change bc I did an ammonia test. After awhile I figured I might as well do my weekly tests and when I came to my ammonia it was greener, then I did a retest and it wasnt as bad as before, It was saying it as greener then the API .25 about 3 minutes in but my second test I took it was around .25 for ammonia. Should I do another small water change or give it time? I realized my thermometer was my room temp which was 77.1 instead of surface temp when I had it on the water. All my coral and fish seems happy and unbothered and I have a duncan so I want to hold off on another water change to help keep it satisfied with not too clean water.

 

[blecki]

The API tests are not reliable, they often read .25 when in fact the number is 0. Try comparing it to a known 0 ammonia source like aged RODI water - the API test with RODI water will be a translucent yellow (Not to be gross, it looks like urine.) API test of 0 with saltwater will be the same shade, but more opaque. Good idea to get a more reliably test and take a water sample to your LFS to compare.

 

[taricha]

The API tests are not reliable, they often read .25 when in fact the number is 0.

Correct. Not just API, he hanna ammonia also reads 0.1-0.2 on totally zero ammonia water.
This slight blush of green should be interpreted as zero.

 

[santeeeyyy]

Correct. Not just API, he hanna ammonia also reads 0.1-0.2 on totally zero ammonia water.
This slight blush of green should be interpreted as zero.

Yea. Mine was just more on the Greener side as usual. It did another bigger water change and then put in some LPS food and it was that usual yellow color I normally get