Best ammonia test kit?

[Saltwaterbae]

I am not a fan of the test kit I’m using now. What ammonia test kits are you using now that you prefer

 

[lapin]

I dont test for ammonia.
Is there a reason why you need to test for it?

 

[brandon429]

Agreed. Let’s do predictive ammonia right here, any scenario from cycling to already cycled. We can make it where you never have to own ammonia tester of any brand. What r u working with

basic rundown
cycling can be ran without test kits using number of days with water.

running reefs can never have ammonia drift it’s perfectly controlled life of the reef as long as kept wet. Can’t be staved, water changed out, cycles and ammonia control are locked in. A dead fish can temporarily spike, but seeing a dead fish is easier than testing/ make every reef have open scapes vs closed hiding spaces / be able to account for your fish and you’ll never test for ammonia.

 

[Saltwaterbae]

I dont test for ammonia.
Is there a reason why you need to test for it?

I’m cycling right now

 

[Saltwaterbae]

Started cycling live rock from kp aquatics on the 7th. Did a few water changes as ammonia rose above 2ppm but right now it’s hard to tell between 0.1 and 1 using the tropic Marin test kit.

 

[lapin]

Started cycling live rock from kp aquatics on the 7th. Did a few water changes as ammonia rose above 2ppm but right now it’s hard to tell between 0.1 and 1 using the tropic Marin test kit.

Good rock for sure. I used the Salfert ammonia test when cycling. Its not the best. This article might help you. Im sure these kits are avail online. How quick you can get one is the issue these days.

Week 13: Ammonia, not as simple as you think: the ideal tank cycle | 52 Weeks of Reefing #BRS160

It's Week 13 of 52 Weeks of Reefing, and we're talking ammonia, bacteria, and the nitrogen cycle. We will explore the methods of using bacteria to convert this highly toxic ammonia into safer nitrite and nitrate as well as the final stage of nitrogen gas where it can leave the tank for good...

blog.marinedepot.com

 

[brandon429]

The reduction stated above means your tank is safe now. Further conf would be no smell water, and clear water.
when ammonia begins to drop in any cycle setting, in your case it’s dieoff curing in the presence of full bacteria, it goes to safe zone and can’t hover at a non safe zone. Post pics


for curing ocean rocks it’s good to use any kit, they’ll all show a downward trend. Getting them to zero is hardest, since ammonia never runs zero / constant output by respiring organisms

the tests that aren’t seneye brand have trouble showing zero since in reefing ammonia is never zero...it runs in the thousandths ppm on all reefs per seneye, we watch for the down trend when using non seneye. Your own senses work as well as non seneye tests.

how does water smell now

 

[Saltwaterbae]

The reduction stated above means your tank is safe now. Further conf would be no smell water, and clear water.
when ammonia begins to drop in any cycle setting, in your case it’s dieoff curing in the presence of full bacteria, it goes to safe zone and can’t hover at a non safe zone. Post pics


for curing ocean rocks it’s good to use any kit, they’ll all show a downward trend. Getting them to zero is hardest, since ammonia never runs zero / constant output by respiring organisms

the tests that aren’t seneye brand have trouble showing zero since in reefing ammonia is never zero...it runs in the thousandths ppm on all reefs per seneye, we watch for the down trend when using non seneye. Your own senses work as well as non seneye tests.

how does water smell now

it smells like ocean water but Light scent nothing overwhelming.
Here’s a pic.

 

[Saltwaterbae]

here’s a pic with whites

 

[Saltwaterbae]

So on the tropic Marin test kit 3ppm is a greenish blue and it’s only shown that once. That was my second big water change. It’s never gone higher than 1ppm since then. Right now it looks like 0.75ppm. I’m still cycling right?

 

[Rmckoy]

If cycling and no livestock ....

Why Change water ?

 

[Saltwaterbae]

On kp aquatics website it says to do 30% water changes for the first 3 days because of the die off.

 

[Malifry97]

Water seems clear and I can see life on the rocks. You are cycled.

 

[Saltwaterbae]

If cycling and no livestock ....

Why Change water ?

"Perform 30% water changes daily in the first 3 days. Keep a close eye on your tank levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and pH), perform bigger water changes if they the levels go much higher. Afterwards perform biweekly water changes of 50% until your levels read zero. When the levels read zero for a couple of days, your tank has cycled and is ready to be used.

The curing process can take from 1 to 3 weeks.

We have had customers not performing any water changes which led to high levels which ultimately killed all the life on the live rock."

from the website

 

[brandon429]

Put an animal in there it will live

that clear water is it, it’s fine, we can find your stated ammonia levels in many tanks raining all types of age, much time is spent on rtr tracing out constant ammonia readings in tanks where water is clear, smells fine, and hosts bioload day to day without loss. Add a snail, those are uber sensitive and will die overnite if the slightest free ammonia is not under control. It’s ok to wait X dates until other changes allow you to start, but we never see uncontrolled ammonia in reefs with rocks and sand surface area + clear water.

 

[wonroc]

Brandon is the Mr.Miagi of the reef. Gonna start following your advice. Confirmed alot of suspicions about these tests when cycling.