Ammonia keeps climbing?

[TCoach]

Since yesterday, my ammonia has started to climb. Fish seem to be happy, but I'm concerned. I figured it was due to my feeding some oysters and shrimp and left over food, so I added a couple old school powerheads shooting straight down the sides of my reef to flush out any detritus. It did push out some left over food, and I pulled it out with a net. However, even after doing that and at ~25% water change, ammonia has started to climb. Also, concerned about the big climb that started about 23:00 last night. @brandon429, any ideas on this one?

Any ideas? I'm making more RODI so I can mix another batch of saltwater for additional water changes, but it will be tomorrow before it is ready.

Attached are some pics and video of the tank.

Here is my Seneye data:

 

[TCoach]

P.S.

All fish accounted for. CBS is good along with what I can see of my small clean up crew (6 hermits and 6 snails).

 

[N.Sreefer]

How mature is the tank? If its fully cycled and a mature tank it should be able to process the extra ammonia.

 

[brandon429]

do not worry here, we have a thread tracking the incidence of seneye misreads just for this reason

your ammonia is fine. Going back to re read some things on your benchmarking one sec/slide soaks etc


this is a misread, have no concern. were your tank actually unable to carry its ammonia all animals would have died yesterday, we need in this hobby to always check test readings against known biology, not just bend the biology to match the reading.

all aquariums after a cycle can handle small ammonia insults and stay on the line of safety, you have sensitive animals that will die if that ever actually rises

Im nearly certain you have a slide issue, after studying our seneye misread post. I bet they can find your issue too.

**caveat:degrading chunks of oyster meat. they likely are rotting in the water if applic but that's not the same thing as a reef that can't control ammonia.


you are on seneye, and Im always bragging about how accurate those are lol so this is now the best thread we have on the site to be testing false ammonia claims. they're usually always api

so, clean out all the waste but don't react to the specific readings this isn't a pre crash or anything.

 

[TCoach]

I figured something was not right. Fish are acting to normal and not hyperventilating like I would expect with high ammonia. Also, tank/sump smells of salt water, not ammonia.

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation!

 

[TCoach]

How mature is the tank? If its fully cycled and a mature tank it should be able to process the extra ammonia.

Reef is over 16 years old with real live rock (probably Fiji). Just adopted it last week and did a ~90% water change as part of the move.

 

[Garf]

I would put the Seneye in a fresh mix of new salt, see if it still drifts up. So in the move, did you change the sand or just use the old stuff?

 

[TCoach]

I would put the Seneye in a fresh mix of new salt, see if it still drifts up. So in the move, did you change the sand or just use the old stuff?

Fresh clear rinsed Caribsea.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Carbon? Some charcol for now?
Hths
D

 

[TCoach]

Carbon? Some charcol for now?
Hths
D

What will the carbon do? I didn't think it removed ammonia.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Carbon. Chemi pure or the elite. Activated charcol. Will absorb. Soak up amonias. Phosphates. Nitrates..clear your water. Ect. Doesnt do it forever so it has to be changed.
Hths
D

 

[brandon429]

Im fascinated how your meter is reading the sustain. ***if a tiny chunk has landed near that meter, or in the current...see how its not really the whole tank


your instincts are 100% right those tank pics will show your real distributed/big picture ammonia scenario. Even if you have a fish die and stay wedged in the rocks, now that's a lot of meat, the tuned seneye owners report the .00x never shifts, it absorbs that much.

overall we'll find the issue somehow and get you back down to the thousandths but itll be through prepping a new slide or changing probe location, or post touchup cleaning but the animals alone if left to their natural means will eat up all those tiny oyster bits. we think this is an acceptable and ok jump to be having, that it came in meat form is maybe why it remains.

were it liquid AC, used right up for sure/threads from seneye show.

This is a very very very nice post about how we can take comfort in the biology and reliability over all. we hold course and your reef just gets more awesome by the day.


there's a tiny chunk on the meter lol I bet!!


In my opinion this is the ultimate application of updated cycling science, and your whole fish and coral load and $ history is on the line for any bad calls.

new cycling science says no reef loses its ability to handle ammonia, its a concern we can retire even if my favorite tester in the galaxy wants a go at the new rules he he

old cycling science says you better buy and reactively add, in doubles, some dr tims, some prime, some polyfilters, a partial water change, total cpr mode


but we think its sit back, check out that nice tank, add another plop of feed lets fatten up them pigs. you can deal with your algae later he he we already know a rip clean isn't scary to you either.

 

[Garf]

What will the carbon do? I didn't think it removed ammonia.

Youre right, it doesn’t.

 

[Azedenkae]

Youre right, it doesn’t.

Yeap, this.

 

[monkeyCmonkeyDo]

Yup im wrong. Wc. More filtration.
You blowing detritus off the bottom and just.moving the reef does not surprise me. It will prob subside.
D

 

[brandon429]

take no action, because the meter is off

we just established that its not possible for forum reefers to unpavlov the response. if a test kit says fail, we will buy, we will buy. and we will salivate while doing so


said in the voice of the emperors dark cloak.




here's our misread thread and some stuck high ammonia ones are in here.

A thread tracking the incidence of seneye nh3 misreads

My Seneye isn’t reading pH or ammonia correct and they are sending a new unit. My question is with a bad unit is the par meter wrong also?

www.reef2reef.com

*we even got the actual company's president to email regarding one of these posts, seneye cares about being legit on the forums they're pretty cool imo.

That whole thread was started because a guy with about 300 pound of fully cured aquarium rock and one damsel said his ammonia was slowly rising, on seneye.


new cycling science said 'nope' and we proceeded to have seneye agree the slide was off/they got replacement gear. Reef tanks do *not* run in the hundredths ppm nh3 and if a seneye says they do, we know that's a red flag for the meter not for the actual tank.

No tester beats the rule of ammonia ability in reef tanks. Its not an ability we lose. no cycling chart shows ammonia going up after day ten for this reason.

 

[IslandLifeReef]

I figured something was not right. Fish are acting to normal and not hyperventilating like I would expect with high ammonia. Also, tank/sump smells of salt water, not ammonia.

Anyway, thanks for the confirmation!

While I don't doubt what @brandon429 is telling you, I would recommend getting an ammonia alert badge just in case the Seneye is correct. Its cheap insurance until you can absolutely rule out an ammonia increase. Not knowing how you moved the tank makes me think that there could be a chance of die off on the rock causing a rise in ammonia.

 

[brandon429]

the more meters the merrier

its a greyhound dog race: meters in one lane, tank pics in another, I already have all the popcorn ya'll are left with only hotdogs w ketchup.

in order to have the best learning we need a tank pic with each passing day. If this were a canid presenting in the vet office w kidney failure, there will be no more eating and upright walking much past ten pm tonite. mortality expected by the morning or at least complete incapacitation.


so that means in the morning if your fish eat, and the water is clear, then we forum cyclers will move your crash date to Tuesday.

 

[TCoach]

While I don't doubt what @brandon429 is telling you, I would recommend getting an ammonia alert badge just in case the Seneye is correct. Its cheap insurance until you can absolutely rule out an ammonia increase. Not knowing how you moved the tank makes me think that there could be a chance of die off on the rock causing a rise in ammonia.

See my build thread for how the tank was moved.

 

[ehealy13]

the more meters the merrier

its a greyhound dog race: meters in one lane, tank pics in another, I already have all the popcorn ya'll are left with only hotdogs w ketchup.

in order to have the best learning we need a tank pic with each passing day. If this were a canid presenting in the vet office w kidney failure, there will be no more eating and upright walking much past ten pm tonite. mortality expected by the morning or at least complete incapacitation.


so that means in the morning if your fish eat, and the water is clear, then we forum cyclers will move your crash date to Tuesday.

We need to push the "no ketchup on hotdogs" movement harder!