Ammonia Spike.. 27 year well established tank...
- Thread starter Delatedlotus
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Been using API test kits since the 70s. Don't get all the negative posts and can only assume mostly repeating that read but don't take my word for it. Get some ammonium chloride and create a sample of 2 ppm. Test the RODI/Distilled used to create that sample and the sample. RODI/Distilled should be zero and the sample should be 2 ppm or close to it. It's hobby grade testing and not going to be exact. All I care about with ammonia is presence and absence along with being less than 5 ppm during cycling. Fact is that with bacterial cycling the ammonia never shows up again and why I never bother testing it.
My remedy for unexpected deaths being nassarius snails. They will make quick work of the missing fish and the poop produced will be less toxic than the decomposing fish. For the same reasons, I seek bristle worms (not the fire type) as those will also make quick work of death. Amazing how most are repelled by them yet so functional. The marine earth worm.
My experience with NoPox is that it works quickly to resolve nitrates but phosphates take a while yet you do need phosphates to resolve nitrates. Vise versa as well. Why I overdose NoPox and feed heavily. I'm dosing 4ml to 16 gallons and feed three or more times per day and more than the fish will consume. Goal is to ensure nutrients are constantly present and allow filtration to resolve it for me. No GHA. No cyano. No dinos. Just some persistent turf algae directly under the light which is only the case because of the DIY bottom plate created to form the filtration. New rocks going in and new G6 replacing the Kessil freshwater light I was testing. Problem should be solved soon plus astreas recently added having at it too.
Not sure why alkalinity is high but most likely overdosing AFR which based on that being provided via biological it could be that you are overdosing AFR because the test kits are showing lower levels of alkalinity than is actually present. Everything is a balance and each ying has a yang. can be maddening.
Neat thing about denitrification is the return of alkalinity lost via nitrification. As you increase the dosing of NoPox then your alkalinity will rise as nitrates naturally fall. Randy can explain this better and I'm over simplifying it because it's how I remember it. All I care about is the holistic affect and not the exact details that got that affect. Some want the exact science. I'm just of the KISS approach.
Wish I had kept some original porous rock. Never thought that would be eliminated from the trade. Makes you wonder what's next and having that porous rock why I highly doubt there's an actual ammonia spike in such a large system even if a dead fish just rotted away in some dark inaccessible corner.
Edit:
Just realized the author was referring to regents. Didn't see the comment about vials and thought I had read strips. No clue how accurate the regent is with ammonia as I've been using the API strips to test ammonia during cycling and that I've found to be spot on. Fact is that it often reads zero at the beginning of cycling with bacterial products and causes me to be concerned and why I test it.
Another option is the Seachem Ammonia alert which only test for free ammonia vs total ammonia. That's the one that needs to be of concern and ammonium isn't an issue. Just haven't used that in salt and don't know how accurate it is in that respect. Plus all i care about at cycling is that total ammonia doesn't spike above 5 ppm and mostly concerned with nitrites to let me know when cycling is complete.
My remedy for unexpected deaths being nassarius snails. They will make quick work of the missing fish and the poop produced will be less toxic than the decomposing fish. For the same reasons, I seek bristle worms (not the fire type) as those will also make quick work of death. Amazing how most are repelled by them yet so functional. The marine earth worm.
My experience with NoPox is that it works quickly to resolve nitrates but phosphates take a while yet you do need phosphates to resolve nitrates. Vise versa as well. Why I overdose NoPox and feed heavily. I'm dosing 4ml to 16 gallons and feed three or more times per day and more than the fish will consume. Goal is to ensure nutrients are constantly present and allow filtration to resolve it for me. No GHA. No cyano. No dinos. Just some persistent turf algae directly under the light which is only the case because of the DIY bottom plate created to form the filtration. New rocks going in and new G6 replacing the Kessil freshwater light I was testing. Problem should be solved soon plus astreas recently added having at it too.
Not sure why alkalinity is high but most likely overdosing AFR which based on that being provided via biological it could be that you are overdosing AFR because the test kits are showing lower levels of alkalinity than is actually present. Everything is a balance and each ying has a yang. can be maddening.
Neat thing about denitrification is the return of alkalinity lost via nitrification. As you increase the dosing of NoPox then your alkalinity will rise as nitrates naturally fall. Randy can explain this better and I'm over simplifying it because it's how I remember it. All I care about is the holistic affect and not the exact details that got that affect. Some want the exact science. I'm just of the KISS approach.
Wish I had kept some original porous rock. Never thought that would be eliminated from the trade. Makes you wonder what's next and having that porous rock why I highly doubt there's an actual ammonia spike in such a large system even if a dead fish just rotted away in some dark inaccessible corner.
Edit:
Just realized the author was referring to regents. Didn't see the comment about vials and thought I had read strips. No clue how accurate the regent is with ammonia as I've been using the API strips to test ammonia during cycling and that I've found to be spot on. Fact is that it often reads zero at the beginning of cycling with bacterial products and causes me to be concerned and why I test it.
Another option is the Seachem Ammonia alert which only test for free ammonia vs total ammonia. That's the one that needs to be of concern and ammonium isn't an issue. Just haven't used that in salt and don't know how accurate it is in that respect. Plus all i care about at cycling is that total ammonia doesn't spike above 5 ppm and mostly concerned with nitrites to let me know when cycling is complete.
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South Carolina reef
Active Member
Hi all.. new to the hobby
Happened to come across this while searching for ammonia spike. I have a new 65 gallon that's been up for a Month. I cycled it with Dr.Tims live bacteria and two clown fish it went great. Cycling ended at about 16 days. Decided to get a yellow wrasse no problems. I guess I got a little excited so two weeks later I put a foxface in. Still no issues. We'll I Decided to put a sailfin tang and two cleaner shrimp. Now it looks like a possible biological bloom. I tested ammonia and it is up to. 05 and the water does look a little cloudy. Did I over do it? I'm pretty concerned.
Happened to come across this while searching for ammonia spike. I have a new 65 gallon that's been up for a Month. I cycled it with Dr.Tims live bacteria and two clown fish it went great. Cycling ended at about 16 days. Decided to get a yellow wrasse no problems. I guess I got a little excited so two weeks later I put a foxface in. Still no issues. We'll I Decided to put a sailfin tang and two cleaner shrimp. Now it looks like a possible biological bloom. I tested ammonia and it is up to. 05 and the water does look a little cloudy. Did I over do it? I'm pretty concerned.
South Carolina reef
Active Member
Do you think it will stabilize
South Carolina reef
Active Member
My test kit reads 0.5
Slow down on feeding for a day, add some pods, pray.
South Carolina reef
Active Member
To be clear I'm using the Sera test kit. The color was somewhere between yellow and light green
South Carolina reef
Active Member
Now I'm a little nervous. I stopped feeding after this morning and will skip the morning feeding
South Carolina reef
Active Member
Now I'm a little nervous. I stopped feeding after this morning and will skip the morning feeding
South Carolina reef
Active Member
Didn't mean to post that twice
South Carolina reef
Active Member
The fish are active and there's no signs of being stressed.
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Delatedlotus
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Good Morning to all you salty finger guys... lol. Yes everything is very happy... Looks great.. I had some mixed both carbon and GFO running but I discontinued it. I did just bump NO POX dosing up yesterday to 30ml in a 220 system = less rock I have a lot. 190 gallons sea water. 20ml in the early morning 7:00am and then 10ml right about 4:00pm. I wanted some of the blue lights to be on for a while when I dosed... Water is just crystal clear, And some flocks are forming all about the rocks. I am going to lightly blow some of it lose and pick it up in socks and skimmer... I think I am doing it some what right..? lol I have never used it before.
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Delatedlotus
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Yes running Max Gyres 350's in both tanks... Added one more 650 gallon ph power head to help some more water movement in the 120. And I put in very fine balsa wood stones in both tanks and placed them right under the Max Gyres, they say to aureate the water when using NO POX is that correct..? And to answerer your question, I do have a lot of them..!
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Delatedlotus
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And this also confuses me.. When you goggle NO POX one article states that NO POX needs to be refrigerated when not in use...? I think it is BRS. But you don't I guess when you hook it up to a doser..? That don't make any sense to me at all. I am hand dosing... As I want to totally control what I put in my tanks..
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