Ammonia increasing after Fritz

[OfficeReefer]

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

For sure. I guess folks don't read the tolerances of + or - on the specs.

 

[brandon429]

hey EJames can you do something neat for us in cycle study threads

don't do a water change, or anything, just add some life to your reef.

I have threads now where we reject any offer of a test kit level and sub in tank pics of life


then we watch those for days on end to see if animals die, and if they keep living so long that we get tired watching for them to die/a couple weeks usually/ we deem that cycled long before we added the fish... having never seen a test kit one time start to finish. we decide who's ready for fish by adding fish on day ten after they put in any brand of water bacteria.

acclimate well; we catch two hour bag floaters often blaming ammonia from the tank/add fish right in if the salinity is closeish.


you're so ready for this test and we need new outcome examples for our pattern threads.

if you can post just a tank pic with life in your reef that is how we proof out cycle study threads that study strictly results.

an uncycled reef tank can't carry life bc marine fish are the upper echelon of of the hobby and the most sensitive; if they keep living well for months on end in any cycling arrangement we see/across variations/we'll have to call cycling much easier than it was told to us it would be.

 

[EmusJames]

FWIW, hat calcium value is almost certainly test error.

I will test again. Just curious how you know that.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I will test again. Just curious how you know that.

FWIW, test error does not necessarily mean user error. There can be faulty reagents etc.

 

[EmusJames]

hey EJames can you do something neat for us in cycle study threads

don't do a water change, or anything, just add some life to your reef.

I have threads now where we reject any offer of a test kit level and sub in tank pics of life


then we watch those for days on end to see if animals die, and if they keep living so long that we get tired watching for them to die/a couple weeks usually/ we deem that cycled long before we added the fish... having never seen a test kit one time start to finish. we decide who's ready for fish by adding fish on day ten after they put in any brand of water bacteria.

acclimate well; we catch two hour bag floaters often blaming ammonia from the tank/add fish right in if the salinity is closeish.


you're so ready for this test and we need new outcome examples for our pattern threads.

if you can post just a tank pic with life in your reef that is how we proof out cycle study threads that study strictly results.

an uncycled reef tank can't carry life bc marine fish are the upper echelon of of the hobby and the most sensitive; if they keep living well for months on end in any cycling arrangement we see/across variations/we'll have to call cycling much easier than it was told to us it would be.

No problem, I was planning on adding 2 clown fish and a population of copepods and brine shrimp. Should I wait before adding an anemone for the clown fish because I was thinking about that as well?

 

[EmusJames]

For sure. I guess folks don't read the tolerances of + or - on the specs.

I read it but like I said I bought a calibration test kit and the results were dead on on with what the parameters were supposed to be hence the confusion because my knowledge at the time was .2 or .25 was too high for ammonia. But after discussions on here with the group and columns by Randy I have learned quite a bit. I am setting up some 10 gallon tanks to test some different ideas and plan on setting up another larger system in the future for more testing.

 

[brandon429]

I have a thread of Ike adding a $300 anemone and eight full size fish and about eight big corals to a dry start reef on day 1, biospira bottle bac and the anemone is still alive two years later

that isn't supposed to work/ we all know anems are tricky. more and more people pull this off though, today has quality feed and lighting available vs 2009


ammonia control of those animals won't be hard, its the feed networking required to keep the anemone alive in a non live rock system/in my opinion that's your limiting factor. if you are going to average aquarist the tank, no I'd wait after stocking up another half year for an anem

but if you're resolved to absolutely feed the best diverse feed and change water routinely to prevent fouling and waste sinking and do extra efforts an average aquarist wouldn't do, yep you can keep an anemone rn if you shine the right light on it, one that has been proven to grow anemones from any post.

 

[OfficeReefer]

I read it but like I said I bought a calibration test kit and the results were dead on on with what the parameters were supposed to be hence the confusion because my knowledge at the time was .2 or .25 was too high for ammonia. But after discussions on here with the group and columns by Randy I have learned quite a bit. I am setting up some 10 gallon tanks to test some different ideas and plan on setting up another larger system in the future for more testing.

@EmusJames don't sweat it, I too would have questioned this reading. When it doubt, I would test it with something else and TBH, if it were still unacceptable even after, I would take it to LFS and talk about it - maybe buy a damsel or something to test the waters out based on the LFS recommendations (if I trust them).

 

[OfficeReefer]

I have a thread of Ike adding a $300 anemone and eight full size fish and about eight big corals to a dry start reef on day 1, biospira bottle bac and the anemone is still alive two years later

that isn't supposed to work/ we all know anems are tricky. more and more people pull this off though, today has quality feed and lighting available vs 2009


ammonia control of those animals won't be hard, its the feed networking required to keep the anemone alive in a non live rock system/in my opinion that's your limiting factor. if you are going to average aquarist the tank, no I'd wait after stocking up another half year for an anem

but if you're resolved to absolutely feed the best diverse feed and change water routinely to prevent fouling and waste sinking and do extra efforts an average aquarist wouldn't do, yep you can keep an anemone rn if you shine the right light on it, one that has been proven to grow anemones from any post.

@brandon429 that's awesome!

 

[brandon429]

Bio-spira works great

I just started a new tank a little over a week ago. I started with all dry rock and new sand. I added a bottle of Bio-Spira and put fish and coral the same day. Never saw any ammonia and fish and coral seem healthy.

www.reef2reef.com

your tank can do that on day one.


*Don't think that you'll learn much about cycle testing with API, all current articles on reef tank cycling for the last 20 years + are written based on that

you will for sure be able to spot ups and downs, but the timing will be off/how long resolution time takes compared to digital tracking/you will get the impression cycles are slow and finicky and they're opposite, locked in and fast.

in order to make new discoveries you have to change two things:

no cycle is deemed stalled or broken if it carries sensitive marine animals day to day plus their feed input plus their waste generated. The only way to mark a failed cycle in today's testing is to have a calibrated digital nh3 meter state the fail or show that animals can't live in the tank and that fish disease is ruled out by preps in place.

it takes a lot to show a stalled cycle nowadays.

it is specifically not a fail or a stall if API or red sea is the sole meter in the experiment and says the cycle is broken.

a calibrated digital nh3 meter is one that has been shown to read in spec on a running stocked reef, then is used to make cycling proofs.

 

[Justdrew]

FWIW, hat calcium value is almost certainly test error.

 

[homer1475]

Did I read that number came from a hanna meter?

You do realize the sample size is so small with tha hanna that a single drop in either direction will give wildly different result.

Throw the hanna calcium away, and use something a little more repeatable like a Salifert kit.

 

[EmusJames]

Did I read that number came from a hanna meter?

You do realize the sample size is so small with tha hanna that a single drop in either direction will give wildly different result.

Throw the hanna calcium away, and use something a little more repeatable like a Salifert kit.

I didn't like it with either. I didn't like the magnesium kit from NYOS either. What does everyone recommend for all test kits?