Do you consider Seachem ammonia alert badge accurate or inaccurate

brandon429 · Sep 9, 2021

I noticed its the #1 tester used in quarantines, to discern action points that save fish from free ammonia

is the badge known as accurate or inaccurate? I've found the answer to range 100% based on the forum its asked in

so what does the place that uses it above all other settings have to say in hindsight about the ammonia alert badge's accuracy/ability

we turn out hundreds of ready cycled tanks and quarantines, so before recommending this badge I'm consulting you all to see what's used here to guide quarantine tanks and animals.

mike89t · Sep 9, 2021

I use the Salifert Ammonia test kit.

I wouldn't use it for precise measurements but it gets me close enough. Basically I can tell ranges of ammonia on a scale of 0.5ish (0, 0.5, 1, 1.5, etc).

By testing clean salt water I was able to better determine what 0 ammonia looked like and go from there.

N.Sreefer · Sep 9, 2021

I'm not sure why people even bother testing ammonia but ya that badge sucks false positives up the yahoo.

brandon429 · Sep 9, 2021

thanks for posting, thats two votes hard no, the badge cannot be used to discern free ammonia status. keep em coming thanks for posting team

mike89t · Sep 9, 2021

brandon429 said:
thanks for posting, thats two votes hard no, the badge cannot be used to discern free ammonia status. keep em coming thanks for posting team

Sorry, I was talking about the Salifert Ammonia test kit in my reply. I have never used the badge to be clear.

threebuoys · Sep 9, 2021

I used the badges when I conducted my own cycling test to validate Bacteria in a Bottle. 5 buckets. When the first two cycled as determined by the salifert and Red Sea test kits, the button had also gone back from the danger zone to the safe range. I got tired of waiting for the other buckets to cycle so I stopped the test prematurely.

Even with this apparent success, I remain hesitant to fully trust the reading. I had one in my quarantine tank, but I had a functioning canister filled with bacteria rich foam from my sump, so the ;badge never indicated nitrogen was a problem. I only tested for nitrogen several times during the 60 days because I was pretty confident in the effectiveness of my filtration.