Ammonia increasing after Fritz

[EmusJames]

After 24 hours of using Fritz Turbostart, is it normal to have increased ammonia readings? I went from .20 ppm to .25 ppm. Tank is 170 gallon and 55 gallon sump (225 total water volume). I gotta say I have never been to zero ammonia in the tank. I feel like that is a myth now. Been cycling forever, maybe 6 months, so I tried the Fritz Turbostart. I started with the shrimp method, but it's just getting ridiculous.

 

[vetteguy53081]

After 24 hours of using Fritz Turbostart, is it normal to have increased ammonia readings? I went from .20 ppm to .25 ppm. Tank is 170 gallon and 55 gallon sump (225 total water volume). I gotta say I have never been to zero ammonia in the tank. I feel like that is a myth now. Been cycling forever, maybe 6 months, so I tried the Fritz Turbostart. I started with the shrimp method, but it's just getting ridiculous.

Allow 8-12 after entering turbo before testing as your numbers will be off
what is your nitrate level and what test kits are you using?

 

[Dan_P]

After 24 hours of using Fritz Turbostart, is it normal to have increased ammonia readings? I went from .20 ppm to .25 ppm. Tank is 170 gallon and 55 gallon sump (225 total water volume). I gotta say I have never been to zero ammonia in the tank. I feel like that is a myth now. Been cycling forever, maybe 6 months, so I tried the Fritz Turbostart. I started with the shrimp method, but it's just getting ridiculous.

Your system might be cycled already. Add a small amount of ammonium chloride to increase the total ammonia to 0.5 ppm, something you can confidently detect and check after 24-48 hours. If it disappears you are definitely done.

 

[EmusJames]

Allow 8-12 after entering turbo before testing as your numbers will be off
what is your nitrate level and what test kits are you using?

Test kits are Hannah Checkers. It is accurate as I was concerned and bought a calibration kit and it is dead on. Probably the only time my checker has read 0.00. I didn't check the nitrate as I have always heard I should be at 0 for ammonia. Just don't understand why I never hit 0.

 

[Dan_P]

Test kits are Hannah Checkers. It is accurate as I was concerned and bought a calibration kit and it is dead on. Probably the only time my checker has read 0.00. I didn't check the nitrate as I have always heard I should be at 0 for ammonia. Just don't understand why I never hit 0.

@taricha looked at the performance of this Checker.

By now, the 0.2 ppm reading is not the detection of ammonia but organic amines generated but not digested by bacteria. For the system right now, 0.2 ppm might be its zero point for total ammonia. If there are doubts about your system’s nitrogen cycle, add a little ammonia chloride and watch it drop. Should only take 24 hours or so to drop it back to 0.2 ppm

 

[taricha]

Like Dan said. Stable mature systems register 0.1-0.2 ppm with this test kit.
See thread here
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/a...ecker-hi784-chemistry-and-performance.933667/

 

[brandon429]

to add:

there has never been a single incidence of an uncycled display reef tank at:

1 month

3 mos

6 mos

9 mos

and anywhere beyond.


I have always heard I should be at 0 for ammonia. Just don't understand why I never hit 0.

-that is old cycling science that used to run the hobby, it's a trick to sell bottle bac, and it works.

 

[brandon429]

the doubt, the repeat purchase impact that old cycling science has caused in the hobby is a combined millions of dollars in losses to hobbyists, you can't own a six month reef tank that isn't cycled.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

After 24 hours of using Fritz Turbostart, is it normal to have increased ammonia readings? I went from .20 ppm to .25 ppm. Tank is 170 gallon and 55 gallon sump (225 total water volume). I gotta say I have never been to zero ammonia in the tank. I feel like that is a myth now. Been cycling forever, maybe 6 months, so I tried the Fritz Turbostart. I started with the shrimp method, but it's just getting ridiculous.

I’d add that no ammonia test we use will, IMO, accurately distinguish 0.25 from 0.20 ppm total ammonia.

 

[EmusJames]

Thanks for everyone's help! I will test for nitrites and nitrates tonight when I get home and let you know what I get.

 

[brandon429]

hey can you post your full tank picture, it's more important than any tests for sure in your issue. there are likely to be growth markers in place that prove cycling that we can see in a pic / common for 6 mo old setups.

we don't factor nitrite in updated cycling science, see Randy's article on nitrite in the reef tank or posts about it

thats the old way, the confusing and bad way that makes folks doubt

only freshwater tanks care about nitrite, not us, it has no bearing on your cycle whether positive or negative

and if any test says positive at month six, it's not going to matter as Lasse has already charted that reef tanks run in the hundredths ppm nitrite during normal turnover, it's not zero. a positive is not a fail it's what reefs do

and if its high, your test kit is wrong.


new cycling science is all about you prepping for fish disease, which if you're fallow for half a year I'd say you're off to a good start intended or not.

only ammonia control and disease preps matter in reef cycling 2022, that's why you're done already. you can't not be done.

waiting longer specifically cannot make your tank safer for fish than it was on day 5.

 

[EmusJames]

Finally got time to test again.
Ammonia is at 0.15
Nitrates at 3.53 ppm
Nitrites at 16 ppb
Salinity 1.026
Temp 77.1
Ph 8.2
Alkalinity 7.7dKH
Phosphate 0.12 ppm
All test kits are Hanna.

A couples months back I put a 10 lb bag of Miracle Mud in my sump.
Also have introduced a couple weeks ago a bottle of both the purple and pink coralline algae.

 

[EmusJames]

Lights have never been on yet. Neither has skimmer. No water changes have been done.

 

[EmusJames]

Calcium 200 ppm with Hanna

Magnesium 1485 ppm with Nyos test kit

 

[rennjidk]

Edit: I misread and just saw that you added the fritz 24 hours ago. You more than likely had a decent volume of ammonia which has just been converted to nitrites. Test again in another 24-48 hours and I'm pretty sure you will see that they have been converted to nitrate, at which point your cycle is complete. Don't worry about small ammonia readings <0.25 with hobbyist test kits.

 

[EmusJames]

Edit: I misread and just saw that you added the fritz 24 hours ago. You more than likely had a decent volume of ammonia which has just been converted to nitrites. Test again in another 24-48 hours and I'm pretty sure you will see that they have been converted to nitrate, at which point your cycle is complete. Don't worry about small ammonia readings <0.25 with hobbyist test kits.

Yeah that was Wednesday, I tested a bunch today and posted results above.

 

[brandon429]

Your cycle was done a while ago, waiting longer can't make the tank safer for fish than it is now

 

[EmusJames]

Your cycle was done a while ago, waiting longer can't make the tank safer for fish than it is now

How did I get past the ugly stage? I always heard about that, but it never happened. Or will it once the lights come on?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Calcium 200 ppm with Hanna

Magnesium 1485 ppm with Nyos test kit

FWIW, hat calcium value is almost certainly test error.

 

[brandon429]

nearly everything that makes up an ugly stage is photosynthetic, and we have thousands and thousands of examples of cycled tanks carrying fish that have not made it to the ugly stage yet even with lights on. there is no possible way you aren't cycled/able to carry fish

waiting longer cannot make your tank safer to carry fish; applying Jay's or Humblefish's disease preps is what makes your tank safe for fish. skipping the preps and using fish without preps since your tank can carry several of them/its cycled/specifically makes your tank not safe for fish.

It is not possible for a reef tank not to be cycled even if you didn't feed it after six months, we have examples of 4 month self-cycling as well and those got no feed, no bac. you've given ample feed, ample bac; this is the most cycled new reef on the entire site.

there is nothing new in cycle assessment posts, only rehashes. add to that: there are no new consequences either; people's fish have been living well this whole time-none of the stalled cycle posts you see online are real or their tank would be crashed.

stalled cycle threads are always a test kit debate of one form or another, and all stalled cycle threads originate from old cycling science rules.