Have you stopped testing for ammonia?

[Sierra_Bravo]

I test religiously. Full battery on Saturdays and an additional alk/calc/PO4 on Wednesdays. Since I cycled my aquarium well over a year and a half ago my ammonia values have consistently been zero.

I think I should have stopped testing for ammonia a while back. Just curious if many others no longer test for ammonia in their main display?

 

[Gonebad395]

After about a year i stopped testing all together I do weekly water changes and watch my tank. The tank can let you known a lot if something seems outta place or off I’ll test but that’s about it.

 

[brandon429]

I never have a need for it, including cycling dry reefs up to par (use submersion timing) nor do we use it in tank rework/turnaround threads.

It's neat what seneye shows: confirms or denies statements made years ago before we had confirmation to the thousandths. What we all deemed zero, not API but a zero ammonia condition, was really just ammonia in flux (emission from organism to nitrification neutrality) but well below lethal levels

We all got really good at identifying lethal/non lethal levels but not really accurate levels till seneye came along


Without using ammonia testing in any stage of reefing, we can still know the presence of lethal levels of ammonia. Clouding and smell are requisite companions, side verifiers.

Medication tanks are different, handy there.

I don't own reefing testing kits above salinity and temp. The top two kits I will never buy are nitrite and ammonia, in that order.

In a normal tank, post-cycle bacteria never ever need refreshment nor support nor anything but our water/hydration. If anyone tries to link bacterial weakness/risk of into their sales for a multi hundred dollar tester, that's a ripoff, because I'll never need that param defined to me in order to reef.


Bacteria are the toughest organisms we foster as a community, not the weakest.

Seneye can warn of a degrading fish in the background before the spike, agreed. It helps suppress stress as a sentry before the event agreed. The reason single fish losses haven't wiped out reef tanks already is due to + surface area from your hundred pounds choice live rock in the display tank (and resulting ~eighty flat football fields surface area)


It's neat to see it flux in precision, but tank layout alternates and stocking density control and remote cam monitoring on your smartphone with twenty dollar web cam for the ultra concerned is same ends.
B

 

[SPR1968]

I have never tested for Ammonia since my tank was cycled and set up

It’s now a mature full blown reef system with more than adequate biological filtration in place, so I my case I personally see no reason to test for it.

Even if I lost a fish in the rock work, the clean up crews should deal with it before any issues.

Hopefully I’m not a bad person! Lol

 

[Dr. Dendrostein]

NH3 tested about a week ago. NPS corals. What's left of them. Heavy feeding.

 

[NS Mike D]

going on my 4th year next month. Not sure when, but stopped testing for NH3 a while back. At some point, I think, you have the confidence that you have a sufficiently established bacteria population and enough stability to presume the NH3 is converted rapidly

I more concerned about Alkalinity. NO3 and PO4 (and salinity around water changes) Monthly for CA and Mg.


I'll test for NH3 and NO2 for giggles cause, the test kits are there.

 

[NS Mike D]

After about a year i stopped testing all together I do weekly water changes and watch my tank. The tank can let you known a lot if something seems outta place or off I’ll test but that’s about it.

+1 It was the tank that was telling me that my API NO3 and PO4 test were giving me false readings of 0. I switched to the Red Sea test kits and sure enough, the tank was correct, as it always is.

 

[brandon429]

Also

The ultimate testament about not testing for ammonia would be found in any seventeen page thread where tank sandbeds are flipped, washed, reused, rinsed and transplanted tank to tank without asking for a single reading, ever. Not one loss of any tank.

Entrants are requested to present a cloudless, zero detritus rinse video showing no filth in the reassembled bed. With the filth (organic decay) goes the ammonia, no testing (and .25 panics) required.

Ammonia is the most predictable compound we work with. It never ever ever does anything surprising. It never fails to follow absolute predictability. Though we'll keep flipping tanks bottom to top in my invasion control/cleaning threads, we'll never need to know ammonia or any of its metabolites, unless for the enduring fun of confirmation tracking. And predicted .25's

 

[Hybrid Ken]

I test religiously. Full battery on Saturdays and an additional alk/calc/PO4 on Wednesdays. Since I cycled my aquarium well over a year and a half ago my ammonia values have consistently been zero.

I think I should have stopped testing for ammonia a while back. Just curious if many others no longer test for ammonia in their main display?

After a cycle I almost never test for ammonia and if I do it is because something happened (equipment failure, an unexpected death or addition of a large bio load that shouldn't have been done in the first place) that makes me think there may be a spike and I want to verify it and ensure it does not reach lethal levels. I do keep a "Ammonia alert" badge from Seachem in my sump and check it once a day as part of my "look at every thing once a day" habit and if it shows any thing I test out of precaution.

https://seachem.com/ammonia-alert.php

 

[Gregg @ ADP]

I did...sometime in the mid 90s

 

[fish farmer]

I forgot when I last tested, maybe when I upgraded my system in 2012. That was probably with old reagent as well. If stuff looks really sad, then I would suspect something and do a WC.

 

[lapin]

Unless I see a big dead fish I dont plan on testing for it. Since I dont have big fish per my tank size, I dont worry. I bet if you tested right after feeding with a very accurate test you would find some. Fish secrete ammonia to help in the digestion of food.

 

[Alfrareef]

Also, probably in the eighties... don’t even remember. :-)

 

[DesertReefT4r]

I have not tested ammonia in years and years. Not even when I cycled my last couple tanks did I test for ammonia, only nitrate. I took water to the LFS after a month of cycling and had them do ammonia and nitrite for me. A healthy cycled system should not have ammonia detectable by hobby grade kits so there is just no point in testing. I can see the need a QT or hospital system though.

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

I'm of the same mind and doubt I'll test again unless something is amiss. Thanks for your responses.

 

[Captain Quint]

Also, probably in the eighties... don’t even remember. :)

Give or take... +1 :)

 

[HB AL]

Haven't checked ammonia in 20+ years.

 

[Tastee]

I stopped testing for Ammonia in my DT a couple of months in once it had cycled. I do test the QT/HT when it’s in use every few days however as that won’t have time to fully cycle when I use it.

 

[jolt]

Let go, you'll be OK :)

 

[Jinko]

Haven't tested for ammonia since the 90s when I kept freshwater, unless you have a power cut or something goes missing in your tank there isn't much need to be concerned with it.