Are theese corals dead?
- Thread starter Ryansi
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Anemone_Fanatic
Valuable Member
Not yet, but it's probably inevitable. You can try to keep them around by doing heavy and frequent water changes, as well as dosing beneficial bacteria, but there is no guarantee. You really need to do lots of research with this hobby, it's never a good idea to add either fish or corals to tanks which are clearly still cycling. Good luck.
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Ryansi
Active Member
Ive had the tank for 3 years. Did 45 percent water changes for a couple days.
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Ryansi
Active Member
8.0 ph 3 years old API Test kits
Anemone_Fanatic
Valuable Member
3 years or 3 days? Normally you would need to try pretty hard to uncycle a 3-year tank.
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Ryansi
Active Member
3
Years
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Ryansi
Active Member
Im thinking the test kits are inaccurate right now.
Anemone_Fanatic
Valuable Member
That might explain the reading, try a different test kit. Not sure what's causing the issues with corals/algae/cloudy water. Maybe post the rest of your parameters, that might help us find what's up.
zheka757
2500 Club Member
that is not true, someone here did a test on 20 year old expired api ammonia test kit and it was still very accurate. im still holding on to mine that was expired in 2017
Anemone_Fanatic
Valuable Member
That's not how this works. Sometimes they're accurate, sometimes they're not. I've found them to never give a 0, always 0.25 - 0.75. Tank is ammonia free.
MnFish1
10K Club member
I have used API tests for > 10 years - including a study requiring multiple measurements using different test kits during an experiment (like hundreds of ammonia etc tests). I never had an ammonia test not measure what it was supposed to (I had added various doses of ammonia to solutions so I knew the PPM). I had one reading of an ammonia that was greener than the others (though the ammonia was 0) - however the reading would have been 0.25. (During that test I made an error - when I repeated it 5 minutes later it read a clear 0). Part of the confusion is how you're supposed to read the ammonia tests - If the color of a test is slightly green but mostly yellow, the instructions call that a reading of 0, rather than 0.25 ppm. The lighting and the way you hold the tube are also important. Mostly it's a matter of following the instructions exactly. I agree with you - I would be wary of using expired tests of any brand.
BTW - I'm not trying to criticize how you do your tests - I'm just giving my experience. I find several of the other tests difficult to read color-wise - so I stick with API.
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Court_Appointed_Hypeman
Valuable Member
I don't think ammonia would kill the corals, but the decay of them dying will cause elevated ammonia if it was to such a quick degree that you don't have enough bacteria to keep up.
I've never had an API ammonia test give a correct measurement after tank was cycled. I have only used one master test kit, so could be a lot issue.
MnFish1
10K Club member
The cloudy water suggests that something is definitely wrong in your tank. Is your rock 'live' from the ocean or dry, etc. As to your ammonia - lets pretend its 1. To get it down to 0.25, you would have to change 75% of the water (and thats assuming that no more ammonia is being produced). The reason I asked your pH was to try to get an estimate of the 'toxic' free ammonia - which varies with pH, salinity, and temperature. Using the calculator below, your ammonia (free) is in the alert level just below the 'alarm' level (0.046).
Agree with the other poster, recheck with another test - whether API or another brand. -I would do a 50% water change (and also verify that your 'fresh' water has a 0 ammonia). That should get the free ammonia down to a safe level while you try to figure out what's going on. Hope this helps
www.hamzasreef.com
Agree with the other poster, recheck with another test - whether API or another brand. -I would do a 50% water change (and also verify that your 'fresh' water has a 0 ammonia). That should get the free ammonia down to a safe level while you try to figure out what's going on. Hope this helps
Free Ammonia Calculator
Aquarium calculator; Estimate the free (un-ionized) ammonia (NH3) concentration, given the total ammonia concentration.
www.hamzasreef.com
Court_Appointed_Hypeman
Valuable Member
Ive had api give me .5 to 1ppm ammonia when the real number is close to zero, i notice after 5 months it stops doing that for my tanks and appropriately reads 0, but its hard to say.
What I do know about API tests with my tanks is that it gets kind of sludgy, and I wouldn't rely on them. A few different batches of API ammonia have given me this issue, but I see others do not have this problem, so ymmv.
What I do know about API tests with my tanks is that it gets kind of sludgy, and I wouldn't rely on them. A few different batches of API ammonia have given me this issue, but I see others do not have this problem, so ymmv.
