New tank issues - need advice

[fresh2reef]

Please post the actual ammonia reading so we can see the picture vs get the number relayed to us make sure to fill test tube accurately and per directions wait however long they say to wait before taking the pic of the ammonia

curious to see what degree of color it is


agreed w cell above all reefs in this condition described are in the .00x levels of nh3 no where near 5 ppm or even tan converted .08

will do, give me 10-15 minuites

 

[fresh2reef]

will do, give me 10-15 minuites

Also is their a test kit like hanna to give exact amounts for ammonia as I really struggle with the colours being very subtle

 

[Cell]

Can we see a full tank picture as well?

 

[fresh2reef]

Pics posted

 

[ying yang]

Pics posted

Looks like 0 amnonia to me

 

[fresh2reef]

Hi
in the pic looks lighter, it actually looks like its risen since last night

 

[ying yang]

My experience with api saltwater amnonia tester you will never get the bright yellow that is on the card but 0.25 on the card is lime green so any colour that is yellow is 0 and if goes lime colour then 0.25 and you can see better than me as you there and not me.
I find to get a true reading hold the vial upto white part of the card with " natural daylight " behind you as if use unnatural lights can have impact on the reading.
My salifert and api amnonia readings always identical ( kept reading and getting told api is rubbish and gives false readings so bought salifert ( another hobby grade test kit) and readings all same and did quite few tests using amnonian chloride but a running reef no need to test for amnonia usually so gave the salifert amnonia test to father in law when helped set up his new tank and kept the api master test kit ^_^

 

[brandon429]

That's a passing api reading. The tank never needs to be tested for ammonia ever again, or nitrite, those self manage from here on out.

 

[Cell]

Try pointing that powerhead up towards the surface a bit to help increase O2 exchange.

 

[Twoddler]

I would take a sample of your water to the lfs ( if local ) just to confirm your test results,
I think your being mislead with ammonia results, and stop testing for it, concentrate on salinity, nitrate, phosphate, Alkalinity, PH , calcium, magnesium.

Are you carbon dosing? To me looks like a bacterial bloom, if so oxygen could be a problem, point wavemaker to surface.

Hanna checkers worth having, phosphate low range, Alkalinity DKH reading, Nitrate high range.

Most important, take sample to lfs, don,t let things get out of control buy adding chemicals for quick fix, your tank is young and will go through many changes

 

[brandon429]

You should vote here in the affirmative for api ammonia its plenty yellow above. Debates and discussions in the poll show that even milder green than that reading would still be cycled, and many systems carrying large fish bioloading show darker levels than that above

Poll on water testing (for ammonia only)

There is widespread commentary out there that certain (API) test kits for ammonia are notoriously inaccurate. 1. I thought it would be interesting to see how common this thought is, in general - and compared to other tests. 2. At the start I will list several testing errors that I have seen...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[fresh2reef]

HI All

thanks for all your help on Sunday, finally discovered what the problem was/is.

Did a proper timeline when things started to go wrong, ordered a lot more testers and other stuff.

I did have an ammonia spike but this was back on December 28th (when I had the bacteral bloom), I started dosing with prime and Microbactal 7, whether it was as high as the test kit seemed, is unlikely (ATI). this would explain the corals not opening. Whilst trying to sort this, Fish were fine at this point. My nitrates had been zero (with API and then confirmed with Hanna tester), I played around with the refugum light and subsequently then increased it to 9.7 going to high.

On the 3rd Jan my Marine labs calcium test came and calcium and according to the test was unreadably low, based on the numbers they provided it was showing around 100. Over the next 3 days increased it to in range and then was adding around 45 a day to keep it stable.

The fish and everything went quickly down hill from the calcium going in on. I lost one of the clowns yesterday and the other is struggling.

Tonight with the new Safert calciumn test kit. It wasn't reading (to high). tried a couple of times same results. So I tested the Ro water and this measured corrected virtually 0. So I did the LFS sea water - Salfert test kit 390-400. Marine labs unreadable low (based on their numbers estimating at around 100).

Having read the effects of Calcium I have basically poisoned the tank! Really annoyed (Major understatement) at Marine Labs and myself for believing what it said!!

 

[brandon429]

calcium wont affect the clowns

skipping disease prep or extremely degraded water may be in play, but we can see in qt/fallow threads disease will take the lead for early losses. especially when assessed in the disease forum

the number one thing you should do to make the reef work correctly is this

manually clean off all rocks from invasion, disallow takeoevers

stop testing for anything other than temp and salinity for three months

be feeding the tank and doing weekly water changes in place of testing, sustain 3 months before altering this better way. extend further if you like the results. thats only temp and salinity tested in the next 3 months, all fish added are quarantined and the fish added into a fallowed system when they arrive.

 

[fresh2reef]

Thank you

 

[brandon429]

and that's also said on the basis that your reef has periphyton covering + bacteria its actually able to carry the same degree of fish loading now that waiting 3 more years to add fish would commute: that surface area is filled up. waiting longer can't possibly pack in more bacteria and plant absorbtion for ammonia so its neat to be able to erase ammonia/cycling issues from here on out as any causative.

yours is able to be visually cycled off a display pic alone given the context of the setup

 

[fresh2reef]

sorry you mean mine is cycled?

 

[brandon429]

100% done cycling and if you owned a seneye you'd have seen it days ago, the key is digital vs non digital testing, but that's only required in tanks we can't easily visually cycle in one second given a tank pic.

you are stocked with life, have new benthic growth, have plant uptake, are past the drop date on an ammonia chart and you dosed known ammonia controlling bacteria.

eliminate from your fish loss hunt:

nitrite
ammonia
calcium
alk and pH if you're doing any degree of water change work. if you've never changed one degree of water since the day it was setup and cycle fed, and its been running stocked up with no water changes, then a simple water change routine will cure the issue
wild tank params such as temp or salinity. surely you're keeping temp and salinity in line? tank appears so


nitrate can't harm fish one way or another in the ppm we see in variance

neither can phosphate.\

that leaves acclimation stress possibility and or disease.

 

[fresh2reef]

Thank you

I think I had the bacterial bloom before due to snails I ordered online, which arrived late has dpd lost the parcel

when I put in the tank some survived but others didn’t and stupidly left them in kinda hoping they were dead (I know stupid)
This was about 10 days before the bloom

 

[fresh2reef]

100% done cycling and if you owned a seneye you'd have seen it days ago, the key is digital vs non digital testing, but that's only required in tanks we can't easily visually cycle in one second given a tank pic.

you are stocked with life, have new benthic growth, have plant uptake, are past the drop date on an ammonia chart and you dosed known ammonia controlling bacteria.

eliminate from your fish loss hunt:

nitrite
ammonia
calcium
alk and pH if you're doing any degree of water change work. if you've never changed one degree of water since the day it was setup and cycle fed, and its been running stocked up with no water changes, then a simple water change routine will cure the issue
wild tank params such as temp or salinity. surely you're keeping temp and salinity in line? tank appears so


nitrate can't harm fish one way or another in the ppm we see in variance

neither can phosphate.\

that leaves acclimation stress possibility and or disease.

 

[fresh2reef]

Regards digital moving over just having to do gradually due to the cost of it