Cycling Question

chuckfu5 · May 1, 2018

Got a cycling question. Started my cycle last week with Dr Times One and Only and dosed to 2PPM with Dr Tim’s Ammonia Chloride. I also added a bottle of Bio Spira.

I have an ammonia badge in the aquarium and it hasn’t moved off of alert and also tested the ammonia with Red Sea test which it gives me a blue color reading?

I’m curious if the Dr Tim’s and the Bio Spira is throwing off the ammonia readings and the reason for the strange Red Sea results?

Anyone have any ideas?

Also hope this is the right place for this post if not please feel free to move it.

DeniseAndy · May 1, 2018

The badge reads only one type of ammonia (I call it the bad one - but both are bad for corals). I would remove the badge as these are mostly used for fish only systems or qt systems to monitor "bad" ammonia. The red sea test is what you want to go by for a tank having inverts. You want 0 ammonia.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 1, 2018

DeniseAndy said:
The badge reads only one type of ammonia (I call it the bad one - but both are bad for corals). I would remove the badge as these are mostly used for fish only systems or qt systems to monitor "bad" ammonia. The red sea test is what you want to go by for a tank having inverts. You want 0 ammonia.

Why remove it?

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 1, 2018

chuckfu5 said:
Got a cycling question. Started my cycle last week with Dr Times One and Only and dosed to 2PPM with Dr Tim’s Ammonia Chloride. I also added a bottle of Bio Spira.

I have an ammonia badge in the aquarium and it hasn’t moved off of alert and also tested the ammonia with Red Sea test which it gives me a blue color reading?

I’m curious if the Dr Tim’s and the Bio Spira is throwing off the ammonia readings and the reason for the strange Red Sea results?

Anyone have any ideas?

Also hope this is the right place for this post if not please feel free to move it.

I'd just wait a bit longer.

chuckfu5 · May 1, 2018

Randy Holmes-Farley said:
I'd just wait a bit longer.

Keep measuring with the Red Sea kit?

DeniseAndy · May 1, 2018

Remove it since it is not doing anything for the cycle. I just figured not needed. Keeping it does no harm either. It is just not giving him the correct reading is all.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 1, 2018

DeniseAndy said:
Remove it since it is not doing anything for the cycle. I just figured not needed. Keeping it does no harm either. It is just not giving him the correct reading is all.

Why is it not correct?

DeniseAndy · May 1, 2018

It is correct for the one type of ammonia, not the total ammonia. Is this a quiz, Randy. If he is cycling his tank for corals and inverts, he needs to know total ammonia, not just free ammonia. I just thought that maybe relying on the badge would give a false sense of security to ammonia levels in a reef tank. That is all.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-02/rhf/index.php
http://www.seachem.com/ammonia-alert.php

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 1, 2018

I would think that knowing either one is adequate to understand cycling. I agree that one needs to know which is being measured to know what, say 0.1 ppm means.

chuckfu5 · May 1, 2018

Randy,

I picked up the 5 test API test strips. I got a reading of 10ppm of Nitrite and 80 PPM of Nitrate.

Looks like cycling is progressing.

Would you recommend doing a large water change when nitrites reach zero or let the refugium just take care of the Nitrates. I have two big clumps of Chaeto which seems to be doing well under the kessil grow light.