ammonia

[Ceaton333]

My tank is about 4 months old. Really smooth sailing. My seachem says I'm perfect but my API test says I'm between .5 and 1. Haven't lost and fish but they are breathing fast. What do i trust. Or what should I do. I also have amguard from when I started. But I've never seen such high trst from the API test

 

[Lightspeed]

water change 25% and re test, use either AFS with rodi 0 tds or clean fresh NSW. Add prime or amguard to help your fish out short term but be aware its short term only if you cant do WC, i would follow up with another water change if ammonia is still high, and try to delineate the source, overfeeding/ dead something and ensure your skimmer is working correctly.
Test nitrites and nitrates and see if bacterial function is working, you might want to get a better test kit soon too

 

[cshouston]

Adding to that, API ammonia tests are notoriously unreliable.

 

[Lightspeed]

Adding to that, API ammonia tests are notoriously unreliable.

yep, i am toward the end of my cycle, API Ammonia test is zero, Hanna low range Ammonia maxes out at 3.0
3 days before Api was still zero and Hanna low range was .27
The only thing i added was a dose of stability

 

[brandon429]

No cycle stalls, cycle charts aren’t written with ranging dates.

4 mos is cycled

post pics they’ll show interesting fish details

the assessment they’re breathing fast isn’t tied to inability to control ammonia, the kit isn’t right if you have no rotting carcasses.

our chemistry friends remind us that TAN conversion math is required for these kits, your initial color isn’t the read

dosers like prime cause false test reads, so many reasons you have a misread but not an errant reef.

post pics it’s not possible for a tank this old to be stalled, it’s not a seneye read.

tank pics are going to show at minimum three proofs it’s cycled post em

fish disease might be taking fish, not nh3 noncontrol. I bet the longest a reef tank can run pre cycled, with bioload, is under 48 hours. Yours is four months

 

[Ceaton333]

Nitrates nitrites and PH are perfect. There are no dead fish at all. I still have all my babies. Its really just yellow on my ammonia alert which is "ok" . My API test says otherwise. Gonna do a change but I just dont want to loose my babies

 

[Ceaton333]

Also put these in about a week ago. Assumed they would help. I'm kinda a rookie at all this. With that said it is the first time I've seen this high of test on the API. Atleast 4 times a week I've done this test

 

[Ceaton333]

Nitrates nitrites and PH are perfect. There are no dead fish at all. I still have all my babies. Its really just yellow on my ammonia alert which is "ok" . My API test says otherwise. Gonna do a change but I just dont want to loose my babies

Nitrates*

 

[Ceaton333]

Adding to that, API ammonia tests are notoriously unreliable.

What would you recommend for testinf.

 

[Ceaton333]

water change 25% and re test, use either AFS with rodi 0 tds or clean fresh NSW. Add prime or amguard to help your fish out short term but be aware its short term only if you cant do WC, i would follow up with another water change if ammonia is still high, and try to delineate the source, overfeeding/ dead something and ensure your skimmer is working correctly.
Test nitrites and nitrates and see if bacterial function is working, you might want to get a better test kit soon too

What test kit would you recommend

 

[cshouston]

What would you recommend for testinf.

I use the Red Sea kits: marine care, algae control and foundation.

 

[Lightspeed]

Either Red Sea or Salifert, i have Elos, Api and Hanna low range, so i can crosscheck.

 

[Lightspeed]

Just as a reminder, ensure all test kit instructions are adhered to no matter what brand you are using, in addition, across all brands of test kits i have used so far for all kinds of elements, i have not yet seen a single on where the instructions make any mention or emphasize to any degree how important it is to be absolutely clean and rinse the test vials and lids in RO Di water both before samples are taken and rinse 3 times after any test has been done, water testing is only as good or as accurate as the person using it, i have another hobby in precious metal refining, cleanliness and rinsing with RODI is SOP and a must.

 

[brandon429]

You don’t need an ammonia test after cycling, your ammonia cannot drift out of whack

your reef has no ammonia problem case closed. Ammonia control issues do not persist after cycle completes, it cant undo, your problem is now fixed. No need to buy any new tests to determine something already known. Look at what ammonia reads on day 30 of a cycling chart

*when you run another test that isn’t seneye and get more ammonia confusion despite what I’m typing above, that too will be a false reading

the video link above doesn’t work but we don’t need that to know your ammonia is safe. No reef can have it unsafe at month four, not possible in reefing, see any cycling chart

 

[Ceaton333]

You don’t need an ammonia test after cycling, your ammonia cannot drift out of whack

your reef has no ammonia problem case closed. Ammonia control issues do not persist after cycle completes, it cant undo, your problem is now fixed. No need to buy any new tests to determine something already known. Look at what ammonia reads on day 30 of a cycling chart

*when you run another test that isn’t seneye and get more ammonia confusion despite what I’m typing above, that too will be a false reading

the video link above doesn’t work but we don’t need that to know your ammonia is safe. No reef can have it unsafe at month four, not possible in reefing, see any cycling chart

My tank is a fish only tank. Does that make a difference?

 

[brandon429]

We are having to infer a few details wo pics

but no that ensures my take even firmer

fo is packing in ammonia fast, if you had no control I put your max tank lifespan at ten hours. If you put a big mix of fish in an uncycled tank they’re all dead in ten hours

having to report a conversion rate higher than normal will likely trip up many brands of test kits but not seneye

don’t forget TAN conversions that one always burns me I forget. My chemistry friends remind me that the colors we see have to be further divided out on a chart to get nh3, the only dangerous param. All others are not dangerous, like nitrite. Don’t test for nitrite.

if you will post a pic we can see if your tank appears to be dying by midnite, with fish hovering / gills burned nh3 backup


or are they positioned all around, feeding, water clear, every visual indication possible that nh3 has always been under control


rule of nh3 sleuthing is there is always, always tank consequence when ammonia is not under control you won’t need a test to see


test kits make us spend money, consider how many thousands of keepers bought extra bottle bac due to the issues in your thread

but nothing is wrong, post pics. We can use your thread in updated cycling science posts where we study whether or not cycles stall without consequences and with fish acting normally


any condition that made them breathe fast yesterday will be amplified today near doom if cycle related let’s see pics and YouTube cell phone vid upload for final diagnostics. We wont need any test reads to determine nh3 control after seeing pics and vid knowing this is four months in duration


we can discern status of your surface area from the posted details. You have sufficient surface area in the form of sand, rocks and or filters or a fo density setup wouldn’t last past ten hours unless you were repeatedly dosing ammonia binders.

 

[brandon429]

this is why we don’t test for nitrite above that wasn’t a passing mention

Nitrite Toxicity

Hey guys I have an aquarium system that has about 45gallons of water cycling so I Let it cycle for about week and I added seeded marine pure ceramic balls and the bacteria in a bottle. I had no choice but to add my 2 clownfish from my quarantine into the tank.. because I needed to put a sick...

www.reef2reef.com

that and we don’t have any testers for it that work reliably.
by excluding yet another misreading param from your tank assessment we get closer to know how it’s running. A pics of it in white light w seal the deal.