Help - Ammonia and Nitrate through the roof

[Auqaman]

I’m at day 4 of a 5 day hydrogen peroxide dose with lights out. 1ml per 10 gallons. Just checked my ammonia and nitrate and it’s the highest it’s ever been. Is this from the hydrogen peroxide? Or has something died?
Thanks

 

[brandon429]

dont worry. these threads always start w the test kit, not something failing in the tank. a butterfly flapping in Japan triggers a green api reading in Wisconsin/fact

let's see the macro/overall w lights on real quick just to balance.

peroxide has been tested so far beyond that ratio that in no way do I think bacteria have been harmed, stumped, anything but given the gas they're obliged to run.

the worst Ive ever seen in overdoses of peroxide 3% medical was some pods lost, wouldnt register on a kit. we have running tanks at that color above, its nearly half of all api readings posted online.

reaction species of something setting off the ammonia, its an endless trace in my opinion until we see thousandths ppm/seneye or any other device that reads precision not subjective.


lets see the tank and a good clear closeup too, truly if it wasn't looking normal I'd be shocked. if cloudy, withdrawn, fish darting etc/shocked.

peroxide isn't all that bad of a buzzsaw at these ratios, thousands of patterns show.

 

[Auqaman]

Both were at zero before I started dosing. Don’t want to stress them all out. 7 fish, 11ish? snails, 1 nem, small colony of zoas.
Pics are before the dosing.

 

[brandon429]

yes that matches every pattern pic known for in-tank peroxide use. nothing is in distress

I have made it part of my reef efforts to convince about fifty thousand people to use peroxide on misperforming reefs in various ways in threads, so that TMZ and Disc-1 from reefcentral could have some good data to peruse, and we hardly ever added it to the water in all our work threads.

we like direct access application, out side the tank. for inside the tank/other ways


its not particularly harmful to add to the reef, but via the water dosing doesn't get the sustained suppression we want vs hand cleaning (accessing rocks outside the tank, directly, not altering water params away from + coral growth etc)


there isn't much harm from adding it to the tank, a little irritation that subsides fast after adding, in a few hours but if you want to suspend adding it to the water there are better ways to attain the goal you want

is it being dosed for algae kill

 

[brandon429]

for sure though, disregard the test readings and make no addition or offset for them. Im very sure no harm is done, we can see normalcy going on in the pic. it takes a massive amount to overcome that tank's abilities.

 

[Auqaman]

I don’t know. It makes me nervous having the ammonia and nitrate so high. I’m probably gonna do a small water change

 

[brandon429]

that is great to do bc it works in all reefs, even when not under stress etc. 100% support that. adding bottle bac or chemical offsets wouldnt be indicated per tank pics and post history, we also collect threads where false api reads spurns retail purchases.


not dealing in seneye is costly at times.

ammonia doesnt even need to be tested in reefing, at all, Ive never owned the kit. your tank above wouldnt need testing for ammonia, nothing we do causes it to drift or processing for nh3 to lag behind a normal amount


we just have seneye readings, or not seneye and the reactions are polar opposite between the two. the nitrate is as it would read at anytime, showing nice nutrient balancing for a new tank etc. it all looks great to me.

I struggle to think which compound would be more lethal floating about in tank water-nh3 ammonia uncontrolled or hydrogen sulfide gas

free ammonia is that consequential...see the open zoanthids/palys there

and the fish down low, not panting up top

and the water clarity, the normalcy of it all vs the test kit only

The number one thing Ive never seen is a running reef tank unable to fully control ammonia even if we're doing various things/insults to the tank. nh3=given control after the cycle, and it takes boiling, drying, true meds, freezing, to kill them and freezing might not do it

 

[Auqaman]

Thanks, I have been dosing microbacter7 in equivalent volume to the hydrogen peroxide. Suppose that could have risen it too?

 

[brandon429]

i read from Dana Riddle that he tested ammonia being found in some bottle bac dosers, as sustenance most likely.


still, not harmful. Our tanks can handle extra ammonia without ramp up, been well-documented in the past in various ways and a little from mb7 isnt going to hurt anything


You dont need to be adding the bac nor the peroxide, but if you want to experiment further your pics are what guide you, not the tests, no telling what kind of cross action is going on there. neither the peroxide nor the mb7 is particularly consequential, can experiment further if you like but mainly that reef needs nothing added but clean food, keep up manual rock cleaning, and focus on gaining coralline not on suppressing growths via the water that will get problematic in the future. coralline is bio-rejecting and repels algae, that's different than having to starve it out or try and dose the algae away.

ways to help coralline grow: seed some, and manually keep surfaces free of algae so that coralline takes the real estate and not primary plant producers.

 

[Dan_P]

I’m at day 4 of a 5 day hydrogen peroxide dose with lights out. 1ml per 10 gallons. Just checked my ammonia and nitrate and it’s the highest it’s ever been. Is this from the hydrogen peroxide? Or has something died?
Thanks

Yeah, these are odd results, probably not directly a H2O2 chemical effect.

Why the blackout. What are you trying to “kill”? Maybe you were sucessful.

 

[SliceGolfer]

Looking at the pics, why did you dose peroxide? I hope the answer isn’t to rid your newish tank of diatoms and algae.

 

[Auqaman]

No I started to get Dinos. It was a small outbreak but I wanted to nip it in the butt before it got big. The tank is about 4 months old and I believe I’ve gone through the worst of the diatoms.
Side note - my ph is also the lowest it’s ever been. Assuming it’s because my ammonia and nitrate are the highest they’ve ever been?

 

[brandon429]

Those are unrelated, you’re still factoring the ammonia as an accurate read

even the pH reading, likely just an approximation. nothing you are experimenting with needs those test kits.

 

[Auqaman]

It’s tough not to test them. I try to keep the elements as stable as possible. I’d consider this a big swing

 

[Cory]

No I started to get Dinos. It was a small outbreak but I wanted to nip it in the butt before it got big. The tank is about 4 months old and I believe I’ve gone through the worst of the diatoms.
Side note - my ph is also the lowest it’s ever been. Assuming it’s because my ammonia and nitrate are the highest they’ve ever been?

Most likely youll need a uv sterilizer if they come back. Its the only thing that worked for my tank. And trust me, i dosed peroxide like nobody here... it kills most of them, but they always come back.

 

[Auqaman]

A uv sterilizer is next on the list. Just wish they weren’t so expensive. Probably get one in a few weeks. I just hope they don’t come back before then

 

[Cory]

A uv sterilizer is next on the list. Just wish they weren’t so expensive. Probably get one in a few weeks. I just hope they don’t come back before then

A green killing machine helped about 65% on my 160 net gallons. But it wasn't until I installed the 90 watt lifegard that made a huge difference. While they are expensive they are totally worth it to me. Imo they are a necessity after having dinos.

 

[Auqaman]

That’s the thing with this hobby eh. Cheap out once and it’ll cost more in the end. Definitely getting one that will last a long time. I’m looking at the Auqa UV Classic series

 

[Cory]

That’s the thing with this hobby eh. Cheap out once and it’ll cost more in the end. Definitely getting one that will last a long time. I’m looking at the Auqa UV Classic series

I agree. The lifegard is awesome and really has neat features the aqua uv doesnt have. Have you looked into them?

 

[Auqaman]

No not until just now. They look really nice. Do they deal off their website? I didn’t see any prices. The biggest concern for me is that it fits in my sump (reefer 250)