Seneye Ammonia vs Ammonia test kit

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Hey guys
I am a bit confused here.
I have a seneye monitor that i am using in a new sterile tank that i am cycling.
I used ammonium chloride and using instructions i dosed it to 2 ppm.
After dosing Seneye NH3 showed 0.10 while API and Red Sea kits show 4ppm.
After dosing Bio Spira and placing few ceramic rings from established tanks Seneye started showing ammonia declining and after 2 days NH3 levels dropped to 0.001 (lowest reading it can take)
But API and Red Sea kits still show 2ppm.
I understand 2 ppm NH3+NH4 (TAN) kits will show 2 ppm which in my tank at 78F and pH 8.0 should reflect NH3 to be around 0.20 but something is not adding up here.
Seneye show 0 NH3 but TAN kits show 2ppm which should be 0.2 NH3 level.
Any thoughts

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I do not know which, if either, is giving a more accurate indication of the actual value. I would say it would be unusual for two ammonia kits to read 2 ppm if there was no significant ammonia, and I’d use them to track cycling.

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

That's what I was thinking as well.
API and Red Sea are very close on their results while Seneye show 0.001 NH3.
If there was no ammonia in the system API and Red Sea should show about 0 to 0.25 like they have a bad rep of showing 0.25 in a cycled tank but not 2 ppm.
I believe that Seneye chip is bad and is reading much less that what the actual ammonia levels are.

 

[lakai]

what color is the nh3 part of the seneye chip and how old is it?

 

[Dr. Reef Verified Sponsor]

Its 15 days old.
After pulling it and flushing it with tank water I placed it back and it went back up from 0.001 to 0.014.

 

[lakai]

Sometimes if the reading is weird , I'll just wash the seneye under tap water let it dry then put the chip back in and the readings make better sense.