Salifert Ammonia test

[STLJam]

Hello, I started my tank on Saturdays and added Dr. Tims One and Only. I have been monitoring the tank for ammonia using a Salifert ammonia test kit, which has been reading 0. So today I went back to the fish store to get some Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride. My tank is a 40g AIO (30g water volume). Per instructions of LFS I added 3 drops per gallon (90 drops). I re-tested the water an hour later and it still read 0.

I was questioning the test, so I took 2ml of the water in my tank and then added 2 drops of the ammonium Chloride. I then did the test per the instructions and the results still came back 0. Shouldn't this test come back off the charts? Thoughts?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

deleted

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Sounds like the test may be off for some reason. Does the bottle smell like ammonia?

 

[STLJam]

Sounds like the test may be off for some reason. Does the bottle smell like ammonia?

very faint smell of ammonia.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Have you ever used this exact kit and seen it work? Maybe the reagents are a dud.

 

[brandon429]

How about we do your cycle testless, without any testing at all, then it will turn out just like our giant testless cycle threads. Testing and second guessing kits is now optional. There's a no test way to have your cycle done by 10-26-23, an exact date.

If you want to run a testless ten day cycle post a tank pic so we can verify your working surface area

After that, with one pinch of fish food and wait to 10-26 we will be set and on the way to being cycled

 

[STLJam]

How about we do your cycle testless, without any testing at all, then it will turn out just like our giant testless cycle threads. Testing and second guessing kits is now optional. There's a no test way to have your cycle done by 10-26-23, an exact date.

If you want to run a testless ten day cycle post a tank pic so we can verify your working surface area

After that, with one pinch of fish food and wait to 10-26 we will be set and on the way to being cycled

Sounds good to me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I'd personally want to measure ammonia and see it decline. Otherwise, you are trusting several things out of your control, such as how much ammonia is in the Dr Tims bottle.

 

[MnFish1]

Hello, I started my tank on Saturdays and added Dr. Tims One and Only. I have been monitoring the tank for ammonia using a Salifert ammonia test kit, which has been reading 0. So today I went back to the fish store to get some Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride. My tank is a 40g AIO (30g water volume). Per instructions of LFS I added 3 drops per gallon (90 drops). I re-tested the water an hour later and it still read 0.

I was questioning the test, so I took 2ml of the water in my tank and then added 2 drops of the ammonium Chloride. I then did the test per the instructions and the results still came back 0. Shouldn't this test come back off the charts? Thoughts?

I would ask @brandon429

 

[MnFish1]

I'd personally want to measure ammonia and see it decline. Otherwise, you are trusting several things out of your control, such as how much ammonia is in the Dr Tims bottle.

This IMHO is correct - whenever I used my bottle of Dr. Tim's - the ammonia was much higher than predicted.

 

[brandon429]

here's how testless cycling works

take a pinch of fish food and grind it up into powder in the palm of your hand

add it to the tank, make sure heat/circulation are on and running and on 10/26 = ten days from today not counting the extra few days it's been running the bacteria will be adhered to all the surfaces in the tank, do a big water change-50-80% and it's done. if you add animals to the tank then, they'll have their waste ammonia handled. ten days wait is a recurring theme across many microbial channels for a reason, that's how long it takes cycling bacteria to set up shop especially when you're dosing them from a bottle and then hyperfeeding them in the presence of heat and water.

it was never required to dose 2 ppm to any cycle to make it work, that was an arbitrary number made up by bottle bac salespersons. we've been cycling reefs without any testing for about 5 years now

you can see why I quit using non digital test kits in my cycles, there's always some reason they aren't working. intermixed among times they are working, nobody can be sure, so we simply came about it another way

notice that for forty years all cycling charts have a 10-12 day ammonia drop line, across all books and articles where they were referenced? handy timing that ten day thing is...

they're starting to do lots of posts in the research forum on how long it takes bacteria to set up shop, look for a ten day theme there as well. the one thing we did different here than what they do there is adding fish food/carbon source along with the ammonia you've added. that'll line things up by 10/26 even if you over or under-did a little feed, or if your bacteria are not super active, it'll align variables to have that bottle bac, feed and ammonia added.

now all you need is the calculated wait time. be reading up on the disease forum methods to stock your tank that don't instantly infect it...skipping disease preps is the true risk to your tank, bottle bac makers already got the cycle figured out just fine.

 

[brandon429]

if you wind up doing the testless method/adding life on the stated date after the water change/post pics so I can link over this example to our working threads

 

[MnFish1]

here's how testless cycling works

take a pinch of fish food and grind it up into powder in the palm of your hand

add it to the tank, make sure heat/circulation are on and running and on 10/26 = ten days from today not counting the extra few days it's been running the bacteria will be adhered to all the surfaces in the tank, do a big water change-50-80% and it's done. if you add animals to the tank then, they'll have their waste ammonia handled. ten days wait is a recurring theme across many microbial channels for a reason, that's how long it takes cycling bacteria to set up shop especially when you're dosing them from a bottle and then hyperfeeding them in the presence of heat and water.

it was never required to dose 2 ppm to any cycle to make it work, that was an arbitrary number made up by bottle bac salespersons. we've been cycling reefs without any testing for about 5 years now

you can see why I quit using non digital test kits in my cycles, there's always some reason they aren't working. intermixed among times they are working, nobody can be sure, so we simply came about it another way

notice that for forty years all cycling charts have a 10-12 day ammonia drop line, across all books and articles where they were referenced? handy timing that ten day thing is...

they're starting to do lots of posts in the research forum on how long it takes bacteria to set up shop, look for a ten day theme there as well. the one thing we did different here than what they do there is adding fish food/carbon source along with the ammonia you've added. that'll line things up by 10/26 even if you over or under-did a little feed, or if your bacteria are not super active, it'll align variables to have that bottle bac, feed and ammonia added.

now all you need is the calculated wait time. be reading up on the disease forum methods to stock your tank that don't instantly infect it...skipping disease preps is the true risk to your tank, bottle bac makers already got the cycle figured out just fine.

I don't understand this

 

[MnFish1]

if you wind up doing the testless method/adding life on the stated date after the water change/post pics so I can link over this example to our working threads

I don't understand this

 

[gbroadbridge]

I don't understand this

What @brandon429 is saying is that you don't need to add any ammonia to the tank, you just need to add some food and let it decay.

No need to measure anything, just wait 30 days.

I've been cycling tanks for 40+ years this way as well.

 

[MnFish1]

What @brandon429 is saying is that you don't need to add any ammonia to the tank, you just need to add some food and let it decay.

No need to measure anything, just wait 30 days.

I've been cycling tanks for 40+ years this way as well.

Brandon claims there is a new cycling science - so I think that a 40 year old technique would not be considered 'new'. Ive been at this as long as you - so I'm well aware of how it works, thanks

 

[Dan_P]

Hello, I started my tank on Saturdays and added Dr. Tims One and Only. I have been monitoring the tank for ammonia using a Salifert ammonia test kit, which has been reading 0. So today I went back to the fish store to get some Dr. Tims Ammonium Chloride. My tank is a 40g AIO (30g water volume). Per instructions of LFS I added 3 drops per gallon (90 drops). I re-tested the water an hour later and it still read 0.

I was questioning the test, so I took 2ml of the water in my tank and then added 2 drops of the ammonium Chloride. I then did the test per the instructions and the results still came back 0. Shouldn't this test come back off the charts? Thoughts?

I suspect the testing is the issue.

 

[MnFish1]

I suspect the testing is the issue.

There are 2 possibilities - either the ammonia you were supposedly dosing was dosed incorrectly - or somehow faulty - or your tests are off. As @Dan_P said