Parfitt1234 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Hello i have a 100L tank with two clowns and 4 chromis in. It’s been running nearly 3 months now and my tank pretty much always shows 0.2 ammonia with the Red Sea ammonia test. I do use prime a lot and do weekly water changes. Just wondering if anyone knows anything if prime gives a false reading of ammonia. The seachem badge I have shows <0.02 ammonia and I know that prime converts ammonia to ammonium. nitrite is 0 and nitrate around 0.5ppm it’s just getting annoying that even after water changes I still have this reading any help would be appreciated! Quote Link to comment
seabass Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 Prime and other ammonia detoxifiers will affect most reagent based ammonia test kits. It's not a certain manufacturer's problem, it's just the way it is. I'd trust the Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge. 1 hour ago, Parfitt1234 said: i have a 100L tank with two clowns and 4 chromis in. It’s been running nearly 3 months That's a fairly heavy bio-load for a 26 gallon tank. I'm sure that also has something to do with it. I assume that you have sufficient live rock in your tank; hope so anyways. At 3 months old, chances are that while the ammonia level may not be extremely toxic, it could still be detectable. If you haven't had a death, or have recently added more livestock, I would tell you not to worry so much. Keep up on your water changes and hopefully things will be fine. Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 28 minutes ago, seabass said: Prime and other ammonia detoxifiers will affect most reagent based ammonia test kits. It's not a certain manufacturer's problem, it's just the way it is. I'd trust the Seachem Ammonia Alert Badge. That's a fairly heavy bio-load for a 26 gallon tank. I'm sure that also has something to do with it. I assume that you have sufficient live rock in your tank; hope so anyways. At 3 months old, chances are that while the ammonia level may not be extremely toxic, it could still be detectable. If you haven't had a death, or have recently added more livestock, I would tell you not to worry so much. Keep up on your water changes and hopefully things will be fine. Thanks. i haven’t had a death and I’m not adding more livestock. And yes I do have some live rock in the tank and running a cannister filter which filters 1000L an hour Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 19, 2020 Share Posted August 19, 2020 As Seabass mentioned, when using Prime most liquid reagent tests will show inaccurate ammonia readings. The 2 that don't are Seachems kit and the ammonia badge. 1 Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 19, 2020 Author Share Posted August 19, 2020 Yes I have the seachem kit aswell and that shows 0 free ammonia, although some total ammonia. The seachem badge is on the safe level at <0.02 Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 On 8/19/2020 at 11:56 PM, Clown79 said: As Seabass mentioned, when using Prime most liquid reagent tests will show inaccurate ammonia readings. The 2 that don't are Seachems kit and the ammonia badge. Do you think I should stop using prime for a bit? I use it probably daily. My nitrite and nitrates are fine it’s just the lingering ammonia reading on my Red Sea kit. My badge shows 0 and the free ammonia seachem test is showing 0 aswell? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 21 minutes ago, Parfitt1234 said: Do you think I should stop using prime for a bit? I use it probably daily. My nitrite and nitrates are fine it’s just the lingering ammonia reading on my Red Sea kit. My badge shows 0 and the free ammonia seachem test is showing 0 aswell? What do you use prime for? Just the ammonia spike or for another reason? Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Just the ammonia. I was told before to add it daily but I don’t know if i should keep using it daily. Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 If there is no ammonia present, then i wouldn't. If you were using tap water, then you would need to. Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Okay it’s just cause it still is showing on my Red Sea kit (the ammonia) but the badge and the free ammonia seachem kit is showing 0. So shall I just use it as a water conditioner now? Quote Link to comment
Clown79 Posted August 21, 2020 Share Posted August 21, 2020 1 minute ago, Parfitt1234 said: Okay it’s just cause it still is showing on my Red Sea kit (the ammonia) but the badge and the free ammonia seachem kit is showing 0. So shall I just use it as a water conditioner now? Thats because of the Prime. It takes over 48hrs of no dosing before a typical liquid reagent test will read proper ammonia readings. Quote Link to comment
Parfitt1234 Posted August 21, 2020 Author Share Posted August 21, 2020 Okay brill thanks for your help again! I do appreciate it 1 Quote Link to comment
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