Hard time reading Ammonia result - API (not the best I know)

[chome360]

Hello,

I'm terrible at reading these colors. Here's 3 different photos of the exact same test result in 3 different lighting. Do you think this is registering some ammonia? I did at a new fish to a relatively young tank. I'm terrible at comparing these colors and the lighting changes it so much. One is in my under kitchen cabinet lighting, one is under a regular ceiling light, and one is with natural light coming in through the window. Note that it's snowing outside so its a very "white" light coming in.

To be safe, I'm going to do a 20% water change and dose some Fritz Turbo.

 

[brandon429]

you dont have to test anymore, it's not going to overload.

there should be some/it's not zero in running reefs. it doesn't matter what that test shows. you have began reefing, never test/verify the cycle again/ its done

you're at the disease import stage: disease is the near certain challenge coming by june, study the disease forum for preventatives. your tanks cycle wont fail, or be overdone.

 

[brandon429]

post a pic of the tank instead

it'll be high surface area, with fritz dosed, that's a known solid/can't fail arrangement. its helpful to know you dont need to run ammonia or nitrite testing on that tank ever again.

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Your are 0.5 ppm. API gets a bad rap for no reason. Salifert is junk since it makes you choose different shades of white and cream. Red Sea I heard is good but never used.

Unless it’s absolutely yellow, you have too much ammonia in your system. Good luck.

 

[brandon429]

untrue, bigtime. the reason to cease cycle doubt: so you focus on disease, the real killer.

 

[chome360]

Thank you both. Here is a picture of the tank (and sump) it's a 112 gallon Innovative Marine. 100 lb of carib sea rock and 60 lbs of their sand. Sump has a gallon of seachem matrix. dosed 4 oz of Fritz 900 when I setup the tank a month ago. Also, if it's a helpful supporting fact, the API test is showing a clear zero for Nitrite.

also, for comparison, I ran a simultaneous test for Ammonia on my newly setup 20 gallon QT tank. For this I bought some LFS pre-cycled marco rock that they had running in a big tub. I also does myself with more Fritz 900. The colors look the same to me, so I think they both have a same result, whether that result is above zero, or zero...

 

[Red_Beard]

i have NEVER seen an API saltwater ammonium test look yellow. not even on unused mixed saltwater that has been circulated and aerated for a month. Never. I wouldn't worry about it unless it was reading around 1.0. Also, for what its worth, I wouldn't do a water change unless your nitrates are through the roof. a regular small dose of bacteria would not hurt though.

 

[brandon429]

thats the lowest api I've seen, too.

ignore it anyway :)

quit running it or you'll be permanently placed into bac fear status. with that much surface area: cannot fail. you're done cycling/we knew at the very start with some clues given, having nothing to do with the test.

 

[chome360]

i have NEVER seen an API saltwater ammonium test look yellow. not even on unused mixed saltwater that has been circulated and aerated for a month. Never. I wouldn't worry about it unless it was reading around 1.0. Also, for what its worth, I wouldn't do a water change unless your nitrates are through the roof. a regular small dose of bacteria would not hurt though.

okay, thanks. I was thinking on whether I should do that or not. the RODI is filling up, didn't have any ready. So had some time. Maybe I'll just dose fritz.

 

[chome360]

thats the lowest api I've seen, too.

ignore it anyway :)

quit running it or you'll be permanently placed into bac fear status. with that much surface area: cannot fail. you're done cycling/we knew at the very start with some clues given, having nothing to do with the test.

thanks, new to reefing, this is my first saltwater. I was a little worried i added fish too soon.

 

[brandon429]

only as a disease risk. the bottle bac makers have this figured out. Dr Reef runs a fish facility using only fritz to instantly carry thousands of fish daily. it does not need verification in reef settings in the home. the bioload of a few fish is well under it's tolerance levels even with compromised bottles.

disease planning

if they get disease, cycling didn't do it.

*before adding more fish though, check out the disease forum it'll help on stock rates. cycling ability is not the limiter. your tank can carry several fish biologically. disease wise? read the forum to see % chance. fish disease forum where Jay does new tank work/fixes

 

[Devaji]

I use API ammonia for testing the cycle too.
just gotta know it will never be zero... it's a known issue I believe .25 is the lowest it will go.

I just confirm my 2ppm then test in a few days after my bottle Bac. was added.
never had issues with them just gotta work with it.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Even assuming the API kit is perfectly accurate, those values are not worthy of action such as a water change. Folks have become too frightened of low ammonia levels. It takes over 10 ppm total ammonia to kill a fish in a few days.

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

 

[TastesLikeChicken]

Even assuming the API kit is perfectly accurate, those values are not worthy of action such as a water change. Folks have become too frightened of low ammonia levels. It takes over 10 ppm total ammonia to kill a fish in a few days.

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

I’m not gonna lie. I’m terrified of ammonia and nitrite. And disease too, of course.

My API test kit turns pure yellow all the time. Not sure why others don’t have the same experience.

 

[brandon429]

agreed fully. cycling doubt leads to completely ignoring disease preps

then in June, when fish are lost/cycling w be blamed if the api then again registers slightly greener. that's why not owning that kit, or any other ammonia kit at this stage, is better training. not being bac scared is #1 reef training based on what I see daily.

being disease scared: that's prudent and matches all searchable loss threads. none are from cycling

 

[brandon429]

do not be terrified, simply stop testing for nitrite and ammonia and use an updated cycling ruleset. I dont use any testing whatsoever to cycle dry and live systems. there's a timing thing/counts the number of days running/that works far better

and then you can focus on disease without test drifts causing doubt

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

I’m terrified of ammonia and nitrite.

OK, while on that topic, forget nitrite exists. Measuring it never has any value in a marine system unless the goal is to see if the small amount present might be interfering with a nitrate test result. It is never at toxic levels in reef tanks, even during cycling.

 

[Red_Beard]

Here is an awesome resource relating to ammonium that @Randy Holmes-Farley put together for us.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-is-our-friend.1080953/

I am dosing a good .5ppm ammonium every day just to keep up with demand in my tank. Once you get it going, you will be surprised just how much your tank will digest.

 

[chome360]

do not be terrified, simply stop testing for nitrite and ammonia and use an updated cycling ruleset. I dont use any testing whatsoever to cycle dry and live systems. there's a timing thing/counts the number of days running/that works far better

and then you can focus on disease without test drifts causing doubt

So a quick circle back on this to share that I didn't quite understand all of what you were saying. After wasting $150 yesterday on another 4 oz bottle of Fritz and a Hanna Ammonia tester, it "clicked" for me. I read your responses again, now with a little more 1st hand experience to match it up to, and I totally get it.

In my initial API colors, to me it mostly looked like it was inbetween 0 PPM and .25 PPM. My main worry was why I wasn't getting any nitrite or nitrate readings either. I was worried the bottle of Fritz I originally used could have been a dud. I had put a different bottle of Fritz into a brute bin with rock and could by the next day I could see ammonia dropping and nitrite climbing. But I shouldn't compare like I did, because that's about 5 gallons of water and I dosed 2 PPM straight ammonia. Not a 100+ gallon tank with only 2 juvinille clowns as the only ammonia producer.

So, I ran the Hanna ammonia test and it gave me .15 PPM. Matching up pretty well to the API color. And I know understand that this is a normal amount of ammonia for a reef tank. There will always be some, like you said. So me adding another 4 oz bottle of Fritz yesterday essentially did nothing. Nothing needed at least. And the Hanna Ammonia test which ultimately showed the same result as the API test, is likely something I will never use again. $70 on a gaget to now sit in the drawer...

Lesson learned. Kudos to you Branden. After wasting some money, rereading you responses, and actually reading some of you other responses over the last few years on similar questions, I now get it.