Ammonia test

[joejenn]

Think I'm going color blind lol. What you think it's close to?

 

[Elementalj]

Think I'm going color blind lol. What you think it's close to?

Between 0 and 0.2

 

[joejenn]

My tank been up and running for 2 weeks now How high do you want the ammonia to be before it goes down?

 

[Elementalj]

The ammonia should have spiked by now. I'd test for nitrite now.

 

[brandon429]

depends on the kinds of rocks you have

if they are covered in coralline its done/o

if they are white base rock and its been two weeks and you've spiked ammonia interim it could be the .2

pictures of the rock and tank will decide, not the test kit which just like API reads unclear at low levels for many. we can assess your ammonia with a tank pic far better.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

Are you fishless cycling by adding ammonia?

 

[joejenn]

Got live and dry rock.

 

[joejenn]

Are you fishless cycling by adding ammonia?

I been ghost feeding.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

If you go by Dr Tim's protocol for fishless cycling he is basically looking to consume 2ppm of Ammonia a day. That's the only reason I asked. With ghost feeding you can't really tell how much ammonia you have. Also, you can't be sure all the food has been converted to ammonia yet. I would keep doing what your doing and wait till the diatoms come. It should only be another couple of weeks. Looks like it is doing fine. I know it's hard, but patience is everything in this hobby. Good job aquascaping.

 

[joejenn]

I have the patience but not my husband, he already bought five little crabs and a zoanthid for the tank (grumpy face). Looks like I'm getting a lot of diatoms growing on my sand and rocks in the back.

 

[Elementalj]

The diatoms are part of the cycle IMO. Time for a water change.

 

[FishLover01]

Don't worry. You're not colorblind. They put all those colors on there but always make sure the test result matches nothing. API is like this as well. You just have to go with the closest match. In this case, it's closer to 0 than anything else.

 

[GainesvilleReef]

If you have diatoms you are probably good to go. Do the water change and stock the tank a little at a time. Have fun and good luck.

 

[Elementalj]

If you have diatoms you are probably good to go. Do the water change and stock the tank a little at a time. Have fun and good luck.

I agree. Slow and thoughtful with stocking works if given a chance.

 

[joejenn]

Awesome,Just saw last time I have little things swimming in the tank, it's so cool. For a 40gal how much should I take out for the WC? And thank you for all your help.

 

[Elementalj]

Probably 3-4 gallons. Math salinity and temperature and you're good to do.

 

[brandon429]

nice pics, agreed the live rock portion w take over the filtration from the tiny animals in tow easily, and the rest catches up. since you have living organisms that can't tolerate free ammonia, you can do any portion of water change you like and make sure it reads zero...not by test kit stressing, but by knowing its origination.

If you haven't dosed any liquid ammonia recently, its not going to have any due to the command abilities of the live rock portion, simply reef on. if you have dosed some, cease lol

 

[GainesvilleReef]

Awesome,Just saw last time I have little things swimming in the tank, it's so cool. For a 40gal how much should I take out for the WC? And thank you for all your help.

When you get some corals in there, get a red flash light and a black flash light. You will be amazed at the transformations the things that come out at night.

 

[joejenn]

So this will go away soon? There is more and more every morning.