To much ammonia

[Brandonphem]

I ended up pouring way to much pure ammonia in my tank I ended up buying a large bottle of the Fritz turbo start and was wondering if I should do a water change first to remove the ammonia in order to not kill the turbo start bacteria or does it matter?

 

[brandon429]

Its not going to matter. Not once in tracking 1000 cycles have I seen an ammonia overdose become strong enough to be antibiotic

might take a long time to clear its metabolites but unless you made bathroom cleaner strength water, no foul. Dr. Reef has specific testing showing bottle bac tolerating 8 ppm extended just fine, meaning they can take higher than 8 ppm though the directions cautions doses above 5.

cycle bac are strong and work fine within reason of our dosings.

so after we guess as to whether its harmed anything, the only way to test it is in a few days change out your water. take a new ammonia test on the totally cleaned water, notate your ammonia level as calibrated zero since you just changed out all the water.

input enough liquid ammonium chloride such that your ammonia test shows about .5 ppm ammonia, a bare amount.

retest in 24 hours, if back to calibrated zero the massive initial dose didnt sterilize anything.

 

[Brandonphem]

Its not going to matter. Not once in tracking 1000 cycles have I seen an ammonia overdose become strong enough to be antibiotic

might take a long time to clear its metabolites but unless you made bathroom cleaner strength water, no foul. Dr. Reef has specific testing showing bottle bac tolerating 8 ppm extended just fine, meaning they can take higher than 8 ppm though the directions cautions doses above 5.

cycle bac are strong and work fine within reason of our dosings.

Okay because I dumped about half a 2 oz bottle of doctor tims into a 15 gallon tank

 

[brandon429]

well maybe thats the closest to overdose ive seen in 1k cycles

these things are just so fun the test and predict.

it really would be helpful to us as a hobby to see if you sterilized that bacteria, they're really tough. I'd let it stew till saturday then do that full water change calibration / easy for 15 gallons, and by Sunday you'll have some data to help us not have to guess next round.

I kicked up a thread yesterday in the general forum called "things not tested regarding marine filtration bacteria" and your issue is another aspect.

We've tested out to 8 ppm, but not beyond. everyone is guessing at this point fwd until we get some data

 

[Brandonphem]

Its not going to matter. Not once in tracking 1000 cycles have I seen an ammonia overdose become strong enough to be antibiotic

might take a long time to clear its metabolites but unless you made bathroom cleaner strength water, no foul. Dr. Reef has specific testing showing bottle bac tolerating 8 ppm extended just fine, meaning they can take higher than 8 ppm though the directions cautions doses above 5.

cycle bac are strong and work fine within reason of our dosings.

so after we guess as to whether its harmed anything, the only way to test it is in a few days change out your water. take a new ammonia test on the totally cleaned water, notate your ammonia level as calibrated zero since you just changed out all the water.

input enough liquid ammonium chloride such that your ammonia test shows about .5 ppm ammonia, a bare amount.

retest in 24 hours, if back to calibrated zero the massive initial dose didnt sterilize anything.

So I’m going to do a full water change then add it and add ammonia with it then do another water change?

 

[Brandonphem]

well maybe thats the closest to overdose ive seen in 1k cycles

these things are just so fun the test and predict.

it really would be helpful to us as a hobby to see if you sterilized that bacteria, they're really tough. I'd let it stew till saturday then do that full water change calibration / easy for 15 gallons, and by Sunday you'll have some data to help us not have to guess next round.

I kicked up a thread yesterday in the general forum called "things not tested regarding marine filtration bacteria" and your issue is another aspect.

We've tested out to 8 ppm, but not beyond. everyone is guessing at this point fwd until we get some data

Because it seems safer to just do a full water change now add the turbo then add ammonia

 

[brandon429]

just to clarify, you haven't added the bac yet is that right (only got the water + ammonia)

if thats the case yes I can see doing the preemptive water change/not having to risk burning costly bac. If you'd already dosed the bac Id just leave it till Saturday as I strongly think it will not harm + we can use that to measure things in this hobby we can only currently guess about (how tough are bac)

this calculator takes your ammonia % strength / gallons and tells us ppm, without even having to measure

Calculator

 

[Quietman]

If it's only 15 gallons...change it all out.

 

[Quietman]

Oh and a word of advice from someone who's tipped the bottle a bit too aggressively as well, use a dropper or syringe.

 

[Brandonphem]

just to clarify, you haven't added the bac yet is that right (only got the water + ammonia)

if thats the case yes I can see doing the preemptive water change/not having to risk burning costly bac. If you'd already dosed the bac Id just leave it till Saturday as I strongly think it will not harm + we can use that to measure things in this hobby we can only currently guess about (how tough are bac)

this calculator takes your ammonia % strength / gallons and tells us ppm, without even having to measure

Calculator

Yes that’s correct I do have live sand in it though a nd a seeded bio wheel I’m assuming that the bac has died off them now though I will do a full water change now add the bac then add ammonia to make it 0.5 will my tank be cycled in less then a week like they claim it does?

 

[Brandonphem]

Oh and a word of advice from someone who's tipped the bottle a bit too aggressively as well, use a dropper or syringe.

Yes I definitely went over kill on it definitely regretting it now

 

[Brandonphem]

Oh and a word of advice from someone who's tipped the bottle a bit too aggressively as well, use a dropper or syringe.

I just felt like 1/3 of a 2 oz bottle wouldn’t be a lot

 

[Quietman]

Yes I definitely went over kill on it definitely regretting it now

No worries...of all the problems you can have, adding too much ammonia before you have anything else in there is probably the easiest to deal with in this hobby.

And a good lesson...always go slow and add small amounts of anything until you see how the tank responds.

 

[brandon429]

yep you can do all that change out then dose it'll work just fine

 

[Brandonphem]

I’m getting nitrate levels does that mean the bacteria are alive and eating the high ammonia?

 

[Brandonphem]

yep you can do all that change out then dose it'll work just fine

^

 

[brandon429]

That must mean either the sandbed bacteria are working or the bottle bac has been added, yes it indicates live action