Frustrated with test kits which do I believe

[W1ngz]

Your skimmer shouldn't be bubbling that much at all. It looks wayyyyy too high out of the water to me. That will probably be fine to break it in, but it looks to me like a skimmer that's brand new and hasn't had a chance to work itself in yet.

 

[W1ngz]

It's entirely possible that your salifert kit is just bad. It's rare but it's possible. I'm not familiar at all with the fluval kits, but certain brands (API specifically) are really off the mark with ammonia.

 

[Rscott]

Your skimmer shouldn't be bubbling that much at all. It looks wayyyyy too high out of the water to me. That will probably be fine to break it in, but it looks to me like a skimmer that's brand new and hasn't had a chance to work itself in yet.

That’s what I said!

I made an acrylic stand that put it right at 6.5 inches like recommend and all it did was freak out and spew all over for 2 weeks

I sent pics to Red Sea and they are the ones that told me to make a new stand and try 4 inches of water

It used to be this deep

And all it did was freak out all day and spew salt everywhere even after 2 weeks of running

 

[KrisReef]

It's a tough call on clarity. There is some cloudiness but it could be stuff you stirred up and/or film on the inside of the tank. The sump looks like there is a lot of bubbles in the whole system which again doesn't help with a clarity call. That said, all of the pics look ok and not horrible. I would keep my hands out of the tank (unless you are removing excess food?) and not feed anything for a few days and see how the tank and the fish look on Sunday.

 

[Rscott]

Thanks for the replies

You guys think it’s bad enough to dose the prime?

I have been trying to hold off on the nuclear option because as I understand it. The prime hasn’t other bad effects like sending skimmers unto melt down plus apparently I will never be able to use an ammonia test after I put it in

 

[Irishman]

I bought Salifert to try and do my cycle testing and had the same issue. I spiking my tank with pure ammonia to 2 PPM and it would read .8 right after.

I mainly use RedSea but need something to start the process. I waited for my RedSea to show up and tested way different. I probably won’t use Salifert again.

 

[W1ngz]

What's the source water you're using to make saltwater? For the skimmer to do that for 2 weeks it could be something in the water itself.

 

[Rscott]

What's the source water you're using to make saltwater? For the skimmer to do that for 2 weeks it could be something in the water itself.

5 stage RODI
I have a good size mixing station I built
We are on city water
I have the water report and it was pretty good for city water so I’m told

 

[Rscott]

I bought Salifert to try and do my cycle testing and had the same issue. I spiking my tank with pure ammonia to 2 PPM and it would read .8 right after.

I mainly use RedSea but need something to start the process. I waited for my RedSea to show up and tested way different. I probably won’t use Salifert again.



How long has your tank been cycling for?

About 16 days

I thought I was doing a good thing getting a Salifert
Apparently. Not
I also have all the Hannah checkers but no use here obviously

 

[W1ngz]

Hrmm, so probably not the water then. Could be something on the rocks or in the tank.
Skimmers are actually really simple machines, just ignore it for another week or so and see if it settles. Maybe let the skimmer pull out water for a few more water changes the way red sea had you doing.

For the ammonia and Prime question, all Prime does is convert the toxic NH3 free ammonia, to much less toxic NH4 (Ammonium). Test kits like that usually test total ammonia (NH3+NH4) and make a best guess on the total free ammonia portion. It's not a nuclear option, and won't make your tank completely impossible to test ammonia ever ever again as you said. The ammonia will eventually be consumed by the bacteria and the Prime should break down and end up removed from the system with a few routine water changes.

I would believe the higher value to be on the safe side, use the prime, and wait for the ammonia to come down. Just because the red sea program says 14 days, doesn't mean the environment and biology will follow those directions. Trust the science more than the corporation trying to sell you things.

 

[Salty Lemon]

Have you been overfeeding? It is super easy to do and it causes ammonia to rise. When you have a new tank, it is hard to imagine that the fish need so little. Overfeeding corals can also make ammonia rise.

 

[Sharkbait HooHaHa]

Maybe put an ammonia badge in as a way to back up your test kits. It would be a fairly inexpensive way to add some peace of mind.

 

[Rscott]

Maybe put an ammonia badge in as a way to back up your test kits. It would be a fairly inexpensive way to add some peace of mind.

Been trying to find one actually
All my LFS just say they won’t sell them because they are crap
I would still like to try one tho

 

[Rscott]

Hrmm, so probably not the water then. Could be something on the rocks or in the tank.
Skimmers are actually really simple machines, just ignore it for another week or so and see if it settles. Maybe let the skimmer pull out water for a few more water changes the way red sea had you doing.

For the ammonia and Prime question, all Prime does is convert the toxic NH3 free ammonia, to much less toxic NH4 (Ammonium). Test kits like that usually test total ammonia (NH3+NH4) and make a best guess on the total free ammonia portion. It's not a nuclear option, and won't make your tank completely impossible to test ammonia ever ever again as you said. The ammonia will eventually be consumed by the bacteria and the Prime should break down and end up removed from the system with a few routine water changes.

I would believe the higher value to be on the safe side, use the prime, and wait for the ammonia to come down. Just because the red sea program says 14 days, doesn't mean the environment and biology will follow those directions. Trust the science more than the corporation trying to sell you things.

Yes I agree. I was already warned not to try and keep the schedule which I was not doing
The only reason i proceeded was because the tests came back clear. If the tests came back high I would not of been doing what I was doing.

So it looks like I have been screwed by a bad test kit

Only thing else I can think is how did I get 2 bad test kits

The nitrite salifert test also shows .1

The fluval shows very different

 

[Rscott]

Have you been overfeeding? It is super easy to do and it causes ammonia to rise. When you have a new tank, it is hard to imagine that the fish need so little. Overfeeding corals can also make ammonia rise.

I’m finding that out. Was giving them a little pinch once a day but no clean up crew and with the skimmer problems I was having I am seeing food all over the tank. Plus I noticed the socks today were full of food. I cleaned the socks out and I’m
Hoping now that the skimmer is rolling that will help improve the situation and take some of the old off the biological filtration

Thanks again to everyone who has replied
Great forum here

 

[GoatmealJones]

My experience is that all test kits that rely on color comparison are both hard to read and hard to be entirely consistent with. I use the colors a guideline and keep in mind that the values most likely represent a small range in which the true value lies.

 

[Rick.45cal]

You need to leave it alone. Figure out how to adjust your skimmer so it’s not overflowing but after that leave the tank alone. Stop reacting to every little change, your tank isn’t cycled, adding prime would be counterproductive to the whole cycling process. You’ve got to give the biological processes time to work, sometimes it takes a little longer than people expect. If your fish aren’t acting stressed I wouldn’t be either. (The catch to this is, everything you’ve done has probably stressed them).

NEVER add salt directly to your tank. It’s better to top off with saltwater instead of freshwater for evaporation to increase your salinity if you end up in this situation again.

Good luck! Better wait a little while before adding any additional fish.

FWIW: I’m not sure which test kit I would believe

 

[brandon429]

Rscott

This is a zero ammonia tank, there is no free ammonia. Your cycle is done. Not once did we need to see any testing or params to know that. Use of water conditioner at any stage changes all readings into unreliable, no need to factor ammonia further here unless you literally want the torture, biology says you are gtg

Proceed w the tank as if the cycle is done bc it is, put away nitrite and ammonia testing and don’t consider it further, manage nitrate to control algae

****your next challenge is algae not cycling

Decide now if you want the optional uglies phase, or if you will force your $ to comply without being invaded the first ten months. Cycle is done, get ready to either love your system or hate it for a while coming up, depending on how you decide regarding the awful optional needs to die out of any written material in reefing uglies phase of 1997

 

[Rscott]

Rscott

This is a zero ammonia tank, there is no free ammonia. Your cycle is done. Not once did we need to see any testing or params to know that. Use of water conditioner at any stage changes all readings into unreliable, no need to factor ammonia further here unless you literally want the torture, biology says you are gtg

Proceed w the tank as if the cycle is done bc it is, put away nitrite and ammonia testing and don’t consider it further, manage nitrate to control algae

****your next challenge is algae not cycling

Decide now if you want the optional uglies phase, or if you will force your $ to comply without being invaded the first ten months. Cycle is done, get ready to either love your system or hate it for a while coming up, depending on how you decide regarding the awful optional needs to die out of any written material in reefing uglies phase of 1997

Can I ask what in the information I have posted makes you say with certainty? Just curious for my own knowledge

Also, I never got a diatom bloom or any sign of algae. Any idea why? The Red Sea kit has me dosing carbon maybe?

How do you mean not comply with the ugly stages? Are you suggesting there are thing to be purchased to avoid? If so I would go that route at this point why not, i already have dumb money into this thing lol

 

[brandon429]

Let's trace it back out biologically just to make sure using only submersion time descriptions

Was any rock or sand wet vs dry when you set up the tank

From what I can tell from the post, this aquarium has fish in it right? If so, they die in twelve hours or less within a system lacking bacteria to process ammonia. I'm reading this tank has had water a few weeks right

There is no possibility for a system to process only 98% of a given bioload and only leave a small portion unoxidized, it's either death in twelve hours or the tank is cycled. Your tank is full of surface area, it scrubs all avail ammonia quickly.

Also, it appears the rocks are not barren white dry base rock, are there any live components to the rock like coralline, fanworms, sponges or any pods? At one point in the pic it looks like a red mushroom coral is on the rocks, what living creatures are associated with these rocks if any

Regarding algae the tank is ok now for sure, looks great, but in two more months some green hair algae pops up and that's a fork in the road. A choice time

Many choose to leave it in place

Some, a few, choose to kill it off manually vs let it take over. Hand gardening until maturation takes over and we can work less, this is better than letting the tank self invade

I run algae fix work threads that run eight years per thread, nearly every entrant is trying to recover from permanent uglies that didn't go away. Be researching direct kill methods vs any method that has you dosing the water or measuring it to control algae. Kill algae directly. Brainstorm how you can remove rocks for external work as needed in order to be opposite of rescue thread entrants. Mostly no one agrees with me on this


Which is why I have multiple eight year work threads heh/keep em coming we love the challenge

For example, if gha popped up on your top rock easily lifted out you could:
-Do nothing, let it grow, we are told the uglies phase is expected. The masses always follow this option.
-you could break rank with loss technique, lift the rock out, and use a propane torch to burn the algae right off gone, set rock back. Cheat your way to no algae. Doesn't have to be fire, that's just an example of creativity and not willing to lose a tank at all. Ten other kill options exist. Could be a simple paste made of kalk to burn the patch, doesn't matter. The resolve matters not the tool, I use peroxide. Externally

The larger the tank the more cautious we have to be in preventing takeover. Only nano reefs get easy resets. We are moving away from cycling planning and into tank planning since all the biology is about to start running it's predictable path