Current Quarantine Protocol

[winxp_man]

OMG, so I just did a bit of digging on this and I think the reason the Hanna meter shows a reading with ~0.50ppm higher is because the copper is in the water and the optical sensor picks that up... Hmmm.... this changes everything.

Test ammonia 48 hours later. Some say they get good readings even after only 24 hours. Yes, as Jay stated, copper will give you at least .5ppm reading.

Did you cycle the QT tanks for 23-48 before putting the fish in the tank? Some bacteria brands state to cycle for 24-48 hours before fish go in.

 

[mainquesthobbies]

Correct, the theory is that the Seachem disks do not register phantom ammonia. However, IMO, these disks have a pretty high failure rate, and I don’t rely on them.

I wouldn’t worry about ammonia in a copper treated tank unless it is reading higher day to day and approaching 1 ppm (so 0.5 ppm of actual ammonia).

There is also a pH component to ammonia toxicity - the higher the pH, the more of the total ammonia will be in its toxic form.

Thank you for your help Jay, this helps a lot!

-Paul