Ammonia levels

[Rmckoy]

I bought the multi parameter checker. It test for 9 things. I was just going to do all the test to double check since I bought the machine

One tested does all parameters ?

 

[Crystal08]

Just ignore all of this and forget that you have an ammonia test kit. You are fine.

Beyond a cycle where you can see cloudy water and smell the nasty ammoni[a,um] smell, there is nothing to worry about. In fact, ammoni[a,um] is the best way to get nitrogen to your corals and your fish excrete it nearly all of the time.

Oh ok. Yeah this tank was already cycled before adding fish. The rocks and sand are from an older tank that was smaller we had going over 6 months

 

[Crystal08]

One tested does all parameters ?

It does the test one at a time but it’s capable of doing 9.

 

[jda]

If you needed to worry, your featherduster would not be out, your leather would not have the polyps out and the gorgs would likely have flesh coming off. You are fine.

Eye test is the best. Beyond that, dKh and salinity every few days and calcium and temp calibration (or double check) every few weeks. If you want to specialize in some super hard stuff after a while, then you might need to do more.

Seriously, just keep temp, salinity stable and test for dKh and calcium. That is all that you need. If you get a wild hair to get an ICP test, just buy some more salt with the money and change a bit more water... water changes actually do things instead of coming back with probably inconsistent results often giving more new questions than answers.

 

[jda]

For that test kit, do alk a few times a week. You will see a trend - like many tests going the same direction and not just a reading or two. Read Randy's 2 part recipe with baked baking soda and water in a 2 part jug can replace this.

You can do calcium every few weeks. It mostly get used in conjunction with alk, so when you add alk, you can add calcium too. Randy's 2 part has a recipe for this too using driveway melt or cheap calcium chloride from Amazon or the hardware store.

Don't worry about pH, ammonia, magnesium, nitrite ever. If you are worried about pH, then opening your windows and getting fresh air into your home will do more than any test kit or remedy... and you don't even have to test.

The nitrate and phosphate can be handy to make sure that you are not getting too high. Do not use this try and chase or change numbers in your tank. It doesn't really matter what the numbers are as long as they are not climbing or getting where they can poison some things that you might want to keep.

Refractometer for salinity with calibration fluid. Something with mercury to check temperature (or verify a temp probe which notoriously go out of calibration).

Don't worry about iodine, manganese, potassium, cobalt or whatever else you see out there. If you really want to worry about this, then salt mix will have all of these, so just change some water.

That is all that you need.

 

[Crystal08]

If you needed to worry, your featherduster would not be out, your leather would not have the polyps out and the gorgs would likely have flesh coming off. You are fine.

Eye test is the best. Beyond that, dKh and salinity every few days and calcium and temp calibration (or double check) every few weeks. If you want to specialize in some super hard stuff after a while, then you might need to do more.

Seriously, just keep temp, salinity stable and test for dKh and calcium. That is all that you need. If you get a wild hair to get an ICP test, just buy some more salt with the money and change a bit more water... water changes actually do things instead of coming back with probably inconsistent results often giving more new questions than answers.

Yeah everything seems good. The BTA is bubbled up too. The large feather duster is inside on the picture but it’s been out all day. I guess I’m just trying to make sure that any test results below 0.1 is ok?

 

[brandon429]

adding for the future:

one day your animals won't look perky as they do now

rising ammonia didn't cause that, because we don't expect zero ammonia and any common variance that test kit happens to reflect in your tank doesn't require any action.

predicted: the first thing that occurs when something doesn't open is an ammonia test: it won't read zero. then items to fix broken cycles are bought = that is old cycling science, resist that urge for your benefit


never running an ammonia test again on your tank is new cycling science, never doubting it's level off the current reading, is new cycling science. knowing that any challenge your future tank is going to face won't come from rising ammonia is new cycling science.

all you have to do is keep the tank running normally, account for all fish, and ammonia will never be of concern

if you have a rock scape that doesn't allow you to see all fish, fix that part/change it to easily accessible

 

[taricha]

Oh so 0.09 should be considered zero? If it’s not above.1?

People have run it on perfectly stable mature systems and gotten things like 0.19ppm

Measurements of mature stable systems seem to generate values in the 0.1-0.2 ppm range. Here's @SaltwaterAq measuring 0.19ppm total ammonia on a healthy mature system, and my display that consistently runs zeros on NO3 (and all other inorganic N forms) measured 0.15, and 0.14 (not near feeding times) on two different days.

so even at 0.2ppm, you should interpret as zero.

 

[brandon429]

the # thing you should be reading up on and preparing for is fish disease from skipping disease preps and mixing in pet store fish, per the disease forum. that's where legit losses of fish occur, and many of those losses are preventable

fallow and quarantine is where fish preservation is at, nowadays

it takes a lot of concern and study to implement those actions correctly for sure. you can forget about cycling concerns, it's all in the disease prep now. future things you might add from a pet store/disease imports/can benefit from preps shown in the disease forum (fallow observation in separate tanks before going into your display)

 

[jda]

I have been reefing since 1992 and marine fish since 1988 when I rode by RedLine BMX bike to the local fish store and nobody trusted ammonia test kits nor tested for ammonia after a few months... and never with established rock and stuff. The old vs. new is just stupid, IMO.

You likely have a very normal trace of ammonia, which will read zero if you had a really good test kit. You always want some to get nitrogen to your corals through ammonia/ammonium and keep the aerobic bacteria doing their jobs.

If you use this test kit again, just factor this range as being zero or "just fine." You can trust @taricha... if he says .2 and under is zero, then bet on it.

 

[Crystal08]

the # thing you should be reading up on and preparing for is fish disease from skipping disease preps and mixing in pet store fish, per the disease forum. that's where legit losses of fish occur, and many of those losses are preventable

fallow and quarantine is where fish preservation is at, nowadays

it takes a lot of concern and study to implement those actions correctly for sure. you can forget about cycling concerns, it's all in the disease prep now. future things you might add from a pet store/disease imports/can benefit from preps shown in the disease forum (fallow observation in separate tanks before going into your display)

I definitely need to look into that. I haven’t done anything with the fish we already have but acclimate them

 

[Crystal08]

Ok

I have been reefing since 1992 and marine fish since 1988 when I rode by RedLine BMX bike to the local fish store and nobody trusted ammonia test kits nor tested for ammonia after a few months... and never with established rock and stuff. The old vs. new is just stupid, IMO.

You likely have a very normal trace of ammonia, which will read zero if you had a really good test kit. You always want some to get nitrogen to your corals through ammonia/ammonium and keep the aerobic bacteria doing their jobs.

If you use this test kit again, just factor this range as being zero or "just fine." You can trust @taricha... if he says .2 and under is zero, then bet on it.

I feel better about the ammonia. Just didn’t know if 0.09 was considered zero. So much contradictory information online about it

 

[Dan_P]

Hello I just bought a Hanna marine master multiparameter and test my ammonia level. It says 0.09. Should I be alarmed? I fed them about 2 hours ago or so.

I assume 0.09 is total ammonia, right? Free ammonia is the toxic form and depending on pH and temperature represents a small portion of the total ammonia, let’s say about 10% or 0.009 ppm which is not a problem.

 

[Rmckoy]

It does the test one at a time but it’s capable of doing 9.

$450 for a test kit ….
That’s insane

 

[Crystal08]

$450 for a test kit ….
That’s insane

It was cheaper than buying all the different Hanna checkers and I got it $85 off but yeah it was pricey. I don’t know what I’m doing so maybe I didn’t need all that. Lol just wanted to safe not sorry

 

[Garf]

I don’t know what I’m doing

Join the club :)

 

[Rmckoy]

It was cheaper than buying all the different Hanna checkers and I got it $85 off but yeah it was pricey. I don’t know what I’m doing so maybe I didn’t need all that. Lol just wanted to safe not sorry

I will give you credit .
for not knowing you seam to be doing amazing so far .
The first and main purchase should always be quality test kits , along with a rodi system

we are all here to learn . Whether just staring or been doing it for 25+ years .
This hobby seams to evolve rapidly

 

[Rmckoy]

It was cheaper than buying all the different Hanna checkers and I got it $85 off but yeah it was pricey. I don’t know what I’m doing so maybe I didn’t need all that. Lol just wanted to safe not sorry

The kit itself will come in handy for sure . Not too sure you will need the ammonia , nitrite or ph results .
but alkalinity , nitrates and if it has calcium and magnesium will come in handy when and if you plan on adding corals in the future .

 

[Crystal08]

I will give you credit .
for not knowing you seam to be doing amazing so far .
The first and main purchase should always be quality test kits , along with a rodi system

we are all here to learn . Whether just staring or been doing it for 25+ years .
This hobby seams to evolve rapidly

Thanks! I did get an RODI system when I first started the tank. So i guess I’m not doing too bad. Just a lot to learn

 

[Crystal08]

The kit itself will come in handy for sure . Not too sure you will need the ammonia , nitrite or ph results .
but alkalinity , nitrates and if it has calcium and magnesium will come in handy when and if you plan on adding corals in the future .

Yes it does calcium and magnesium too. I like knowing I can test everything just in case.