Your skimmer shouldn't be bubbling that much at all. It looks wayyyyy too high out of the water to me. That will probably be fine to break it in, but it looks to me like a skimmer that's brand new and hasn't had a chance to work itself in yet.
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Your skimmer shouldn't be bubbling that much at all. It looks wayyyyy too high out of the water to me. That will probably be fine to break it in, but it looks to me like a skimmer that's brand new and hasn't had a chance to work itself in yet.
What's the source water you're using to make saltwater? For the skimmer to do that for 2 weeks it could be something in the water itself.
About 16 daysI bought Salifert to try and do my cycle testing and had the same issue. I spiking my tank with pure ammonia to 2 PPM and it would read .8 right after.
I mainly use RedSea but need something to start the process. I waited for my RedSea to show up and tested way different. I probably won’t use Salifert again.
How long has your tank been cycling for?
Been trying to find one actuallyMaybe put an ammonia badge in as a way to back up your test kits. It would be a fairly inexpensive way to add some peace of mind.
Hrmm, so probably not the water then. Could be something on the rocks or in the tank.
Skimmers are actually really simple machines, just ignore it for another week or so and see if it settles. Maybe let the skimmer pull out water for a few more water changes the way red sea had you doing.
For the ammonia and Prime question, all Prime does is convert the toxic NH3 free ammonia, to much less toxic NH4 (Ammonium). Test kits like that usually test total ammonia (NH3+NH4) and make a best guess on the total free ammonia portion. It's not a nuclear option, and won't make your tank completely impossible to test ammonia ever ever again as you said. The ammonia will eventually be consumed by the bacteria and the Prime should break down and end up removed from the system with a few routine water changes.
I would believe the higher value to be on the safe side, use the prime, and wait for the ammonia to come down. Just because the red sea program says 14 days, doesn't mean the environment and biology will follow those directions. Trust the science more than the corporation trying to sell you things.
Have you been overfeeding? It is super easy to do and it causes ammonia to rise. When you have a new tank, it is hard to imagine that the fish need so little. Overfeeding corals can also make ammonia rise.
Rscott
This is a zero ammonia tank, there is no free ammonia. Your cycle is done. Not once did we need to see any testing or params to know that. Use of water conditioner at any stage changes all readings into unreliable, no need to factor ammonia further here unless you literally want the torture, biology says you are gtg
Proceed w the tank as if the cycle is done bc it is, put away nitrite and ammonia testing and don’t consider it further, manage nitrate to control algae
****your next challenge is algae not cycling
Decide now if you want the optional uglies phase, or if you will force your $ to comply without being invaded the first ten months. Cycle is done, get ready to either love your system or hate it for a while coming up, depending on how you decide regarding the awful optional needs to die out of any written material in reefing uglies phase of 1997