How accurate are seachem ammo alert badges?

[fishywishy]

I put one in my QT tank every time I use it, and they seem to work, but it’s hard to trust. Does anyone know if they are accurate?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

They seem to be accurate enough for the intended purpose. Note that ammonia is not as toxic as many assume.

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

 

[exnisstech]

Some people love em and some say they are garbage. I used them in QT. I don't know how accurate they are but I never lost a fish to ammonia poisoning that I'm aware. I did notice color changes and performed water changes as needed.

 

[fishywishy]

Some people love em and some say they are garbage. I used them in QT. I don't know how accurate they are but I never lost a fish to ammonia poisoning that I'm aware. I did notice color changes and performed water changes as needed.

They seem to be accurate enough for the intended purpose. Note that ammonia is not as toxic as many assume.

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

Do they still work in copper?

 

[exnisstech]

Do they still work in copper?

Yes, QT was the only time I used them.

 

[Doctorgori]

same here, I only use them in the QT & brine shrimp bins; they seem accurate enuff for that

 

[Malcontent]

I had one in a freshwater tank years ago. It remained in "alert" mode the whole time despite pH being < 7. I never bought another.

 

[mjszos]

Accurate enough to tell you if you need to properly test it, but not accurate enough to be the single source of truth.

 

[Brett]

QT'ed at least 100+ fish using those badges. Just keep'em wet and they work good enough for QT purposes.

 

[Brett]

Do they still work in copper?

I've used the badges in combination with Copper Power for years.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

Accurate enough to tell you if you need to properly test it, but not accurate enough to be the single source of truth.

Maybe. I'm not sure knowing exact ammonia values is all that useful. I'd word it as:


Accurate enough to tell you if you need to do anything about it.

 

[mjszos]

Maybe. I'm not sure knowing exact ammonia values is all that useful. I'd word it as:


Accurate enough to tell you if you need to do anything about it.

This is a more succinct way of putting it, and I'd edit my original comment to reflect that if I could.

 

[fishywishy]

Maybe. I'm not sure knowing exact ammonia values is all that useful. I'd word it as:


Accurate enough to tell you if you need to do anything about it.

They seem to be accurate enough for the intended purpose. Note that ammonia is not as toxic as many assume.

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

What level of ammonia is too high then?

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley Verified Community Expert]

What level of ammonia is too high then?

In what scenario?

In a reef tank it is typically never too high except in an emergency.

In a temp setting like a qt tank, I’d do water changes if ammonia got above 0.5 ppm total ammonia.

 

[leo12345]

Do they still work in copper?

I saw a thread from @Jay Hemdal and he said its not accurate enough #fishmedic

 

[Jay Hemdal Verified Community Expert]

I saw a thread from @Jay Hemdal and he said its not accurate enough #fishmedic

The issue is that the amine-chelated copper products (coppersafe and copper power) create a background level of ammonia in many tests of about 0.4 to 0.5 ppm I've been *told* that these ammonia alert badges do not register this bound up ammonia like the salicylate ammonia test does. To be honest, I don't use these badges, early on I had some faulty ones and I just sort of stopped using them.

 

[PotatoPig]

The copper compounds often use an amine molecule (NH2, made from NH3 - ie ammonia) to make a compound that is less harsh on the fish. The badges seem to be able to register this amine and count it as ammonia.

I found this out after going mad trying to bring ammonia in a QT tank down only to see it keep staying exactly the same even after an 80% water change and no bioload…

AFAIK all the copper treatments that you take to 2 or 2.5ppm do this. While the amine is bound to the copper neither it nor the copper are in dangerous concentrations.

Do not use an ammonia reducing agent on the tank, this can strip the amine compounds from the Copper, turning it into a harmful concentration that’ll risk killing your fish.

If you want to know the tank is OK then make sure it’s cycled before adding Copper, then trust the cycle.

I suppose one thing you could do is test before adding the fish, confirm the “ammonia” level, and then subtract that out from any subsequent readings to make sure it’s not rising.