Ammonia

[stephenm894]

So I tested my ammonia two days ago and I’m not 100% sure what it was I can’t remember if it was .25 ppm or .5 ppm obviously an ideal ammonia level is zero is .25 2.5 safe enough for me to add fish?

 

[stephenm894]

So I tested my ammonia two days ago and I’m not 100% sure what it was I can’t remember if it was .25 ppm or .5 ppm obviously an ideal ammonia level is zero is .25 2.5 safe enough for me to add fish?

.25-.5 not 2.5 lol

 

[andiesreef]

So I tested my ammonia two days ago and I’m not 100% sure what it was I can’t remember if it was .25 ppm or .5 ppm obviously an ideal ammonia level is zero is .25 2.5 safe enough for me to add fish?

there should be 0 ammonia and nitrite in the system, no exceptions. anything above 0 will cause stress, gill burns, and even death.

 

[stephenm894]

there should be 0 ammonia and nitrite in the system, no exceptions. anything above 0 will cause stress, gill burns, and even death.

Thankyou!

 

[brandon429]

the reason itll be ok is bc your tests are misreading we get those readings on full running reefs routinely.

post a pic of your tank we can fix this easily.

along w tank pic, what brand of cycling bacteria did you use, and how many days has it been in the tank / water

the majority, not the minority, report the same readings using those kits on full running reefs.

to know your ammonia we dont need any kit, we need only pics and a timeline. all reefs chart the same way once we reach a certain timeline based on boosters used, and they dont vary at all other than for wildly reading non digital test kits.

 

[Gedxin]

Gonna counter @andiesreef a bit and say that Nitrite is not terrible to have in the system. Sure, it's not "good", but at low levels it's not going to kill your fish: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

 

[stephenm894]

the reason itll be ok is bc your tests are misreading we get those readings on full running reefs routinely.

post a pic of your tank we can fix this easily.

along w tank pic, what brand of cycling bacteria did you use, and how many days has it been in the tank / water

the majority, not the minority, report the same readings using those kits on full running reefs.

 

[stephenm894]

Fritz 900 one live rock about 6-8 pounds or so and live sand My tank has been running about two weeks

 

[stephenm894]

Fritz 900 one live rock about 6-8 pounds or so and live sand My tank has been running about two weeks

The other two rocks were dry rocks

 

[brandon429]

the tank is 100% cycled. its not possible to have new benthic growth on top of uncycled surfaces. your ammonia is running in the thousandths ppm. this cycle is done, and added to our false stuck cycle thread. darn nice. agreed nitrite has no bearing dont even own the kit.

 

[brandon429]

fish disease is your risk, not fish harm. consider fallow and qt, or at least buying from pre qt sources.

 

[stephenm894]

the tank is 100% cycled. its not possible to have new benthic growth on top of uncycled surfaces. your ammonia is running in the thousandths ppm. this cycle is done, and added to our false stuck cycle thread. darn nice. agreed nitrite has no bearing dont even own the kit.

Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s diatoms

 

[stephenm894]

Yeah I’m pretty sure that’s diatoms

At least so I’ve been told I take the turkey baster and squeeze it on the rock and it just flutters right off

 

[Azedenkae]

So I tested my ammonia two days ago and I’m not 100% sure what it was I can’t remember if it was .25 ppm or .5 ppm obviously an ideal ammonia level is zero is .25 2.5 safe enough for me to add fish?

It is very common to read 0.25ppm ammonia, even in established tanks. You should be fine. Unless the amount is climbing day by day or whatever.

 

[brandon429]

from that mere pic we already know you've met the submersion times off a common cycling chart, for ammonia control.

isnt new cycling science cool. we can assess your cycle off not any test kits and it always works, because the rules that govern cycling are the same tank to tank, they dont vary, as old cycling science would have us believe. The way we know all cycles can be made to start on a timely basis vs indef waiting for test kits to allow is to look at the instant reefs from any reefing convention. that's 300 reefs all ready by friday, no stalls, this is updated cycling science the sellers use and keep hidden from the buyers at the convention who buy products to unstick cycles


at no time in history has a reef ran long enough to build up golden diatoms and was uncycled. if you waited nine more years it wouldnt hold any more bac than it does now; in order to carry more fish you'd add more rock surface area if concerned, but not more bac or more wait time for that surface area in play.

 

[stephenm894]

At least so I’ve been told I take the turkey baster and squeeze it on the rock and it just flutters right off

So I’ve done a water change I took out maybe a quarter of the water but I didn’t siphon the gravel or anything and I didn’t clean my sponge because my tank is relatively new and I didn’t wanna take bacteria out I said would you say this is a false reading or what what’s the jurisdiction can I add maybe some snails and an easy beginner coral what can I do?

 

[andiesreef]

Gonna counter @andiesreef a bit and say that Nitrite is not terrible to have in the system. Sure, it's not "good", but at low levels it's not going to kill your fish: http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php

i think ammonia is a much worse offender than nitrite. nitrite is less harmful but still no good imo.

 

[stephenm894]

So I’ve done a water change I took out maybe a quarter of the water but I didn’t siphon the gravel or anything and I didn’t clean my sponge because my tank is relatively new and I didn’t wanna take bacteria out I said would you say this is a false reading or what what’s the jurisdiction can I add maybe some snails and an easy beginner coral what can I do?

I have the API salt water master kit it was the bright yellow green closest .25 I think maybe .5

 

[brandon429]

you are ready to reef, here's the thread we added your thread to which proves you are ready (look at their results)

you can clean any way you want and it wont hurt, add whatever you had planned.

How to unstick any seemingly stuck cycle

Team how many times did we need to know your alkalinity to turn out cycles ready here with fish or your ph or any other param if you have water, and time depending on the boosters used, you get a full complete cycle and not a partial one. Someone update the cycling rules for the hobby with...

www.reef2reef.com

your ammonia is in the thousandths ppm, but the cheap tester you are using can't reveal that. the thread sure does tho/this reef is done cycling, and ready. The test kits you bought are useless. even the nitrate reading wildly disagrees with comparative nitrate tests in comparison threads about 98% of the time.

to know your ammonia, if in doubt beyond the link, you'll need to buy seneye to confirm what we already know.

why would we meanly claim the most bought test kit in reefing the last 30 yrs is useless>
1. ammonia-we dont need to know it, timelines and pics will work always, not needed. after a cycle is done we never test for it again anyway.
2. nitrite, see Randy's post
3. Nitrate, good for approximation only, rough rough approximation so why not just get a digital nitrate meter and do it right

 

[stephenm894]

I have the API salt water master kit it was the bright yellow green closest .25 I think maybe .5

Hopefully no one else is having this problem thinking their test is broken but when I first started testing for ammonia I put eight drops of the first bottle and eight drops of the second shook it a little bit then let it sit and it would never change colors it would stay cloudy white I realized I wasn’t shaking too hard enough so I took it as hard as I possibly could this next run and finally got some color which is not necessarily good but got it to work