Ammonia in INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS

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First off, I'll just say I'm one sad fish dad. One by one my fish and corals are dying. It's my first reef and my 5 fish were buddies for 2 years. Not a single death until this week.

INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS crashed my reef with ammonia. I didn't believe it at first but the tests feel conclusive.

The picture with 2 tubes:
Left: RODI+salt mix (from a pitcher of water with a drop of AmmoLock)
Right: RODI+salt mix

The picture with 1 tube:
Just RODI

Is it in my bucket? Nope, I tested it with a clean pitcher, exact same result. Nothing else touches the water prior to testing.

I have 2 boxes of mix that were ordered several months apart. One brand new, the other about 4 months old. They BOTH produced the same result (as seen in the pic).

All of the tests were done to water that was tank-ready, salinity and temp on par. I'm happy I didn't dump it into the tank but that also mean I'm just letting it die until I get new salt first thing tomorrow. I really hope AmmoLock and bacteria additives can save what little is left (1 clown and a few frags).

My tank is currently testing better than the right tube and worse than the left (forgot to take a photo but it's somewhat irrelevant in this thread).

My question is, how is it possible INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS could produce 0.7ppm ammonia seawater? They're just selling poison? Is that not the point when doing a water change, to remove bad stuff while introducing good stuff?

It was traumatic to watch it crash after enjoying it to the max, stuck in a small apartment downtown during a pandemic. However I realize other reefers have incurred much bigger losses and my heart goes out to anyone who has to go through it.

168426979_3789554974446868_3184096659993372410_n.png 169469175_943549413142283_754375814307983494_n.png
 

Rmckoy

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Not 100% if this is or could be related .
I have noticed in the spring it seams municipal water has a lot more chemicals in it burning through di resin almost 5 times faster .
As the snow melts , rivers and lakes are higher , I would only assume the water source itself has higher levels as well .
I have never tested ammonia in fresh mixed saltwater , but I know before the rodi if I use the API kit , there is a trace nitrates .
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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what reef tanks do with free ammonia post-cycle is the same tank to tank, it doesn’t vary.

doubt in that updated cycling rule is why for six pages the most tightly-controlled compound we encounter has been assessed all over the place, end to end of the causative spectrum. We merely got lucky his posted pH complies, if it showed off this same umpire group would pounce, always quick to amend cycling charts.

we got lucky his badge complied, in two clicks we can see the finicky crowd hates ammonia badges depending on the thread title.



there’s nothing wrong with this tank, or he owns the worlds toughest snail - one of these two statements is true.

notice how on a cycling chart, not one in history ever written allows for ammonia to come back up and hold, not one, they all self manage:
19635061-0830-412E-8E7C-668578BC15F6.jpeg


forums posters sure are quick to make new rules we can see... lecturing is anytime we go against a crowd.


for the love of Pete, do not buy bottle bac for this tank.

put down the test kits, focus on feeding and water changes and getting blue reef lighting.
 
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Disease and an off the chart ammonia test. The confusion continues as my last fish declines.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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Just so I have this straight.

New salt is used for a WC and fish start dropping dead
Some slight temperature fluctuations
Ammonia test for newly mixed SW indicates a high then usual presence of ammonia
Ammonia alert badge triggered for presence of ammonia

Two sides to this so far.
1. You have an ammonia issue in your salt which killed inhabitants
2. Ammonia readings are a misread and unrelated to the disease that wiped out your tank.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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what reef tanks do with free ammonia post-cycle is the same tank to tank, it doesn’t vary.

doubt in that updated cycling rule is why for six pages the most tightly-controlled compound we encounter has been assessed all over the place, end to end of the causative spectrum. We merely got lucky his posted pH complies, if it showed off this same umpire group would pounce, always quick to amend cycling charts.

we got lucky his badge complied, in two clicks we can see the finicky crowd hates ammonia badges depending on the thread title.



there’s nothing wrong with this tank, or he owns the worlds toughest snail - one of these two statements is true.

notice how on a cycling chart, not one in history ever written allows for ammonia to come back up and hold, not one, they all self manage:
19635061-0830-412E-8E7C-668578BC15F6.jpeg


forums posters sure are quick to make new rules we can see... lecturing is anytime we go against a crowd.
even if they’re not right.
His badge was not yellow and clearly shows ammonia.
 
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brandon429

why did you put a reef in that
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Can someone please post experience links in any language, I can use translator if needs converted.

because using no-links science has worked well for Broods and Rabbit so far here

I view the badge as clear, not free ammonia.

you guys’ rate of prediction and follow through has been outstanding. Clearly you rely on the test kits no mater what, surrounding context need not apply...neither of you asked for any if I’m reading post one onward correctly. He’s got the worlds toughest snail then. corals open in free ammonia.
 
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Pics of the fish could possibly help
I don’t want to put his light on again. It’s my hope that he just needs rest so I’ll try to describe. It’s a female clown, looking slightly transparent (noticeable probably only to it’s owner) but overall ok coloration aside from a “scuff” of white on it’s black tail. She’s not breathing too heavy but seems lethargic and inactive, touching the sand but not laying down. This morning she was lying on the bottom looking really bad. The male of the pair was dead along with 2 other fish. She perked up really good a few hours later after I dosed prime.
 
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brandon429

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Have never seen such a link-imbalanced thread. Wait yes I have














all my peers but three cannot decide if a two year old reef is cycled.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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You haven't posted a relevant link yet. I am not dismissing your claim that misreads are very common nor that his tank should be processing 1 ppm ammonia. I am dismissing your claim that he does not have an issue with his salt. I have never seen a misread from API that was that green compared to another sample that was reading the standard misread coloration.

If a test kit was bad then the samples would have likely been the same color and dark green but this simply was not the case. Show me a thread where freshly mixed SW tested this high, had no fish deaths and I will concede.

Here is my work thread you were asking for. I think its relevant.
 
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HomebroodExotics

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Have never seen such a link-imbalanced post. Wait yes I have
You have spent more time here talking about how awesome you are than trying to help out this poor guy. The only links you've posted are more threads where you berate people for using api test kits. If you want me to make a bunch of posts about how awesome I am and then link you too those then I'm afraid I just don't have the time.
 
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Can someone please post experience links in any language, I can use translator if needs converted.

because using no-links science has worked well for Broods and Rabbit so far here

I view the badge as clear, not free ammonia.

you guys’ rate of prediction and follow through has been outstanding. Clearly you rely on the test kits no mater what, surrounding context need not apply...neither of you asked for any if I’m reading post one onward correctly. He’s got the worlds toughest snail then. Y’all sold me, for sure the case is convincing here, the evidence you posted is what tipped me.
If you believe it’s a disease, let’s discuss. It’s worth noting that my corals have also been affected but not blown out. The zoas (not pictured) look the worst. I don’t care about critiquing other users, I’m here to save what’s left of my reef and it would be a heck of a lot better than starting over. Time is ticking and I’ve been up for 22 hours. Is there anything I can do or should I go pass out?
 
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HomebroodExotics

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If you believe it’s a disease, let’s discuss. It’s worth noting that my corals have also been affected but not blown out. The zoas (not pictured) look the worst. I don’t care about critiquing other users, I’m here to save what’s left of my reef and it would be a heck of a lot better than starting over. Time is ticking and I’ve been up for 22 hours. Is there anything I can do or should I go pass out?
Are you running carbon?
 
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brandon429

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I offered help in chat away from the fray. recommend: feed frags directly with quality feed, be exchanging water and getting bluer lights. It doesn’t matter if someone agrees on the blue lights or not, that’s the recommend. There isn’t a chemistry issue here says the snail and age of substrate and total lack of ammonia input on a sustained basis, we actually need to generate some ammonia here as none is backed up.


Feeding, lower light intensity or move frags down/ bluer less whites is less irritating - this is a recommend from my rehabs practice its not meant to engage the next six pages on light hue preferences. exercise this reef, build it back up with corals


then fallow it


then introduce qt fish but feed them like Paul does. Remove all ammonia testing, you can know your ammonia if you can account for your fish and when some are dead, we expect the spike. It resolves in minutes, not days, after you remove the dead fish.

if the op feels in spite of recommends that fallow and qt won’t be used in the future that’s fine, but the recommend right now is to read any post from the fish disease forum before deciding that. If you can see Neon rabbit fixing diseased tanks there, then you’ll know to investigate those recommends.

click this link readers, who is fixing disease here? How are they doing it?

 
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