Hannah ammonia checker

[mmorrison55]

Does the Hannah ammonia checker give total ammonia? Specifically the H1784

Our Ammonia Checker® HC (HI784) provides an uncomplicated, highly accurate, and budget-friendly way to measure ammonia (NH3/NH4+) in saltwater/marine environments.

And if so, how does that factor in to measured levels in a reef tank? Seems there is a formula of some sort to go from total ammonia to ammonia? At least based on this comment I found:

Seachem recommends keeping ammonia levels below 0.05 ppm (or 0.63 ppm of total ammonia) to be safe, and anything above 0.20 ppm (or 2.53 ppm of total ammonia)

Im asking because my Hannah checker just read .16. i don’t think that is anything to worry about, but probably need to increase my water changes, cut back on feeding a bit, and add some beneficial bacteria.

 

[Garf]

Seems there is a formula of some sort to go from total ammonia to ammonia?

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/FreeAmmonia.php

 

[mmorrison55]

https://www.hamzasreef.com/Contents/Calculators/FreeAmmonia.php

Thanks, After converting my .16, I think it said it was .009 nh3 which is pretty negligible. I just see so many report 0 ammonia, and wonder how many use the same Hannah checker or if that 0 is from API or some other drip kit.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

In general I don’t think it is worth bothering to convert total ammonia to free ammonia. Understanding the difference is important in things like shipping bags, but reefers post total ammonia, most tox tests evaluate total ammonia, and free ammonia is a mixing target as pH changes in a reef tank.

Folks are also far too afraid of ammonia. There’s no evidence that 0.5 ppm or less is any concern, and even that doesn’t happen in a normal reef tank.

Contrary to common opinions, I do not think it is desirable to minimize ammonia in an operating reef tank.

This has more:

https://www.reef2reef.com/ams/ammonia-is-our-friend.1062/

 

[mmorrison55]

I was more concerned with ammonia levels based on this thread discussing GHA. I wasn’t sure if this could be the cause of the start to my outbreak.

Post in thread 'Red Hair Algae....'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-hair-algae.558219/post-5729539

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I was more concerned with ammonia levels based on this thread discussing GHA. I wasn’t sure if this could be the cause of the start to my outbreak.

Post in thread 'Red Hair Algae....'
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/red-hair-algae.558219/post-5729539

I don’t think limiting ammonia is going to help an algae problem. Algae can use nitrate just fine.