Ammonia test results

[uwharrie]

So I know API is not the best by far. ( suggestions on better kit welcome)

The clear is my RODI water. The other is tank water. My guess is while it looks like 0 per the chart it is not. It looks a little greener in the photo than in real life.

 

 

[dandelion]

Saltwater appears milky on the API test. You're fine.

[uwharrie]

Thanks. I never thought about that. I was testing the fresh after reading a thread about ammonia creeping in from environment

[dandelion]

If you're worried you can always dose a little prime. I keep a big bottle of that around in case.

[brandon429]

API cannot be used to make any decision about tank action at this level as u guessed, no action should be taken to the tank

 

ammonia only comes from death and decay or detritus or well water in your tank, the reason you don't have to dose anything is because those sources can be found. If you have open corals, fish breathing normally, any pods or worms alive, that's how to know if you have free ammonia or not never an API guess

[uwharrie]

so are you saying never to test for ammonia? I know API is minimal at best but sometimes you have to use what you can get. But I cant see NOT testing. If nothing else to trouble shoot if there are issues with livestock.

 

So what ammonia test do folks recommend?

API cannot be used to make any decision about tank action at this level as u guessed, no action should be taken to the tank

ammonia only comes from death and decay or detritus or well water in your tank, the reason you don't have to dose anything is because those sources can be found. If you have open corals, fish breathing normally, any pods or worms alive, that's how to know if you have free ammonia or not never an API guess

[tetraodon]

so are you saying never to test for ammonia? I know API is minimal at best but sometimes you have to use what you can get. But I cant see NOT testing. If nothing else to trouble shoot if there are issues with livestock.

 

So what ammonia test do folks recommend?

salifert or red sea are the most often recommended kits, the way to test is add like shrimp from the super market and let it decay, you should test for ammonia but if nothing is decaying or expelling ammonia, youll never see it on a test. for cycling you should see a spike then decline to 0 for ammonia. then throw something like the shrimp and test, if you continue to not see ammonia on the test then the bacteria that converts it to nitrite is present and functioning normally.

[uwharrie]

I understand testing at cycling. My tank has been up and running almost 6 months so well cycled. But that does not mean ammonia cannot creep up or spike

[tetraodon]

I understand testing at cycling. My tank has been up and running almost 6 months so well cycled. But that does not mean ammonia cannot creep up or spike

thanks for the clarification, it can spike but only if the amount of ammonia being produced is more than the bacteria can handle, usually its because a fish or something significant dies, or being introduced suddenly. however you would notice the tank get a white cloudly if the ammonia jumps fast, the bacteria will grow due to the abundance of their food. unless you have reason to believe there is ammonia in your tank it usually isnt nessisary to test for, its not like nitrate which builds all the time.

[brandon429]

Opinions will range on this. I will never need to own an ammonia test kit because the molecule cannot creep up or come about in a reef tank after the cycle if all animals are accounted for and no detritus compiles and no meds have been dosed. Ammonia is the single most predictable param we work with in reefing it cannot come about post cycle without one of those above coming first.

You can't get ammonia in our tanks without denaturing a protein and then deaminating an amino acid, where goes true ammonia a protein went first that's why it's so easy to predict. Death rot is a traceable set of proteins, detritus has some protein left and can rot in a disgusting old sandbed, meds can kill nitrifiers, and source water from wells can have ammonia via ground percolation and that came from proteins in the dirt breaking down as rainwater picking up ammonia as it coffee filtered down before being pumped out

I don't need ammonia tests to start a tank either, I skip all reef cycling by using cured live rock.

Salifert if you are cycling dry rocks

API is handy to indicate large changes only such as the death of a fish lost in the tank but in nanos we can visually check our fish easily and remove them if they die

We have assessed ammonia levels thousands of times in threads online solely off tank pics and by judging the behavior of life forms in the tank

Ammonia never ever ever ever creeps up to any level post cycling without obvious death we left in the tank, meds, detritus or source water. it will be harmless to continue testing, comparing among kits and tracing out the trustworthiness of ammonia all that type above is just my opinion.

 

One of the amazing facts about cycled tanks is they will universally and never incompletely digest 2 ppm of ammonia to zero within 24 hours, perpetually. this fact alone makes persistent low readings in cycled tanks that have no losses, no abnormal waste stores, immediately suspect and false.

 

Ammonia is in such demand on the reef that all production is immediately assumed as nutrients down the chain, starting in the water. nitrification absolutely does begin in the water as floc and associates begin the digestion. nitrifiers begin the demand for ammonia in the water, they exist on little raft particulates of trash and feed and any other floating item. your substrates are not necessarily on the floor of an aquarium.

[tetraodon]

I don't need ammonia tests to start a tank either, I skip all reef cycling by using cured live rock.

 

Salifert if you are cycling dry rocks

 

API is handy to indicate large changes only such as the death of a fish lost in the tank but in nanos we can visually check our fish easily and remove them if they die

the only thing i caution is the use of the term "cured live rock" after working for many LFS, it can be used to describe any rock that is in tank water. not to denounce what you said, you hit the nail on the head exactly, ive personally seen people used what was sold to them as cured rock only go through cycles anyway, but then again they werent exactly the type who did research.

[brandon429]

Agreed fully on term clarification need

 

Several people are buying all kinds of different rocks labeled as cured, it indeed ranges including totally painted rocks labeled as cured, agreed it may not be how we are intending it to be.

Cured in the ideal sense to me is stable rock, no more die off. Things encrusted to it are matched for the changes an aquarium presents, it's associates have staying power. It passes the 2ppm to zero in 24 hrs oxidation test

That means even fake painted live rocks if left underwater long enough becomes cured

 

I've linked this cycling thread a couple times disregard if already clicked

But if someone hasn't clicked, this is testable multi tank cycling detail. Thought it was pertinent to how we assess ammonia without ever seeing a test kit for it:

http://reef2reef.com/threads/new-tank-cycling-tank-bacteria-and-cocktail-shrimp-live-rock-no-shrimp.214618/