Lowering NH4 (ammonium)

Terboy · May 31, 2018

Hi, I have the same Seneye setup and I would point out the the NH4 reading is in ppb (parts per billion) and have been told that a reading like that is not significant!
All the parameters in the tank remain stable within accepted levels except the pH and NH4 whose levels change with one another - the Ammonium rises in the night and pH decreases by day with lights on the Ammonium drops and pH rises - daily cycle. I’m still a relative beginner but my tank is holding up quite well as it’s stocking levels increase.

Randy Holmes-Farley · May 31, 2018

Terboy said:
Hi, I have the same Seneye setup and I would point out the the NH4 reading is in ppb (parts per billion) and have been told that a reading like that is not significant!
All the parameters in the tank remain stable within accepted levels except the pH and NH4 whose levels change with one another - the Ammonium rises in the night and pH decreases by day with lights on the Ammonium drops and pH rises - daily cycle. I’m still a relative beginner but my tank is holding up quite well as it’s stocking levels increase.

That's certainly all true. I would not worry about a total ammonia reading below 0.05 ppm.

How much do you see ammonium rise at night? I'm curious how much might be a real daily change in total ammonia (interesting) and how much is just the pH change (not so interesting).

The effect from pH (converting NH3 into NH4+ as pH drops) should not be able to account for much of a rise at night (much less than a factor of 2, maybe less than 10%, depending on the pH peak and trough).