Is anyone with a mindstream or seneye ammonia reader willing to co-fund a cycling experiment with me

[ingchr1]

Hmm this 20 gallon tank took almost 1ml to hit 0.022. I didn’t see any movement till .5ml

Per Dr. Tims, 1ml = 20 drops.

I'm dosing 0.2 ml (4 drops) to get a few thousands, give or take. Sometimes my drops are not that exact though.

My Seneye is in the return chamber and I dose one chamber over, so at times the Seneye probably sees a higher initial concentration that when it gets distributed through out the entire tank.

During a future dose I will place the Seneye in the display to see what it reads.

What you are seeing may not be that much different.

 

[Garf]

I don’t have API test. I could bring a sample to LFS I need more fish food anyway.

That would be good. I’m curious if the API reads high, compared to the other methods. So, 0.02 free ammonia equates to about 0.2ppm total ammonia which is 10 times lower than the norm of dosing 2ppm to cycle a tank then? I suppose some boffin in a labcoat somewhere has calculated that 2ppm total ammonia is ideal for a cycle?

 

[Sarcazian]

If you are interested in more data I can try sharing. I am not perfect by any means in logging what I do; however, I had my seneye in a my DT 1.5 months after it was setup. The seneye showed no ammonia movement at all for weeks and then I reached out to the company. As per guidance on this forum.

They suggested that I mix up a gallon of water and dose the water with ammonia and for whatever reason that "fixed" the slide since.

I had some corals shipped to me on Tuesday and they have been QT'ing in a ~3g tank. So, it made sense to add the seneye to that tank to monitor water levels and nh3.

I have seen a steady increase of nh3 and it was sitting at around 0.80 this morning or last night.

I tried dosing MB7 and XXL start, at different times, to see if that would impact the nh3. I saw no real impact and I say no real consider it may have helped keep the increase from up ticking a bit.

I also was not measuring the dose. About 1/2 a capful for each during each attempt. System is an AIO and has a sponge filter that I pulled from the DT.

 

[CoralClasher]

That would be good. I’m curious if the API reads high, compared to the other methods. So, 0.02 free ammonia equates to about 0.2ppm total ammonia which is 10 times lower than the norm of dosing 2ppm to cycle a tank then? I suppose some boffin in a labcoat somewhere has calculated that 2ppm total ammonia is ideal for a cycle?

Well my LFS doesn’t have or sell API. He said not quite clear on his test. Maybe 0.15?

 

[Sarcazian]

Seneye 24 hour chart. I just changed out the QT tanks water - about 60-70% (full tank minus AIO chamber). You can see the dip down to 0.036. Water was from my DT that normally ran around 0.008-0.015.

Absolutely peak reports 0.073 and 0.033 right after WC.

 

[brandon429]

Excellent data again in very close alignment with expected nh3 rates related to surface area @Sarcazian

all of this is featuring seneye at its best. Seneye is aligning with data we can source for nh3 levels on natural reefs.

 

[CoralClasher]

I may have goofed this morning. Ammonia was steady at 0.003 all night so I turned the lights on and added some phytoplankton. Ammonia jumped to 0.024 within minutes.

 

[CoralClasher]

So if the ammonia doesn’t increase without me adding something does that mean bacteria is controlling the ammonia being produced? Should I add some consumers? I could fill this tank with soft corals.

 

[brandon429]

Not sure on that, would need to see if it comes down over time not sure on phyto causes. If the mixture doesn’t smell I wouldn’t expect it to be full of ammonia worse than your test dose

 

[CoralClasher]

Not sure on that, would need to see if it comes down over time not sure on phyto causes. If the mixture doesn’t smell I wouldn’t expect it to be full of ammonia worse than your test dose

How much time are you thinking? How much nutrients do I put in the tank without consumers?

 

[Sarcazian]

How much time are you thinking? How much nutrients do I put in the tank without consumers?

How much PY did you add and what size tank do you have?

I have a lot of Tommy's PY and I am due to dose the little tank with the Seneye. I can capture before and after, but I normally just tip it in (in excess) since the water gets changed every 1-2 days.

 

[CoralClasher]

How much PY did you add and what size tank do you have?

I have a lot of Tommy's PY and I am due to dose the little tank with the Seneye. I can capture before and after, but I normally just tip it in (in excess) since the water gets changed every 1-2 days.

Tank is 20 gallons, 5ml of OceanMagik phytoplankton. Nothing in the tank to consume the phytoplankton. I thought it was live phytoplankton and would start the food web.

 

[CoralClasher]

Well going on 6 hours without any movement downward on ammonia. What’s the law on water changes during cycle? 0.026 on the Seneye and the badge is still in the safe color.

 

[ingchr1]

...During a future dose I will place the Seneye in the display to see what it reads....

This morning I placed the Seneye in the display and dosed my normal 4 drops of Dr. Tims NH4Cl. The level did go up consistent with past doses. It just took time to disperse and be picked up by the Seneye. I added the dose at 8:10AM, the 8:16AM sample did not pickup it up, but the 8:46AM sample did. I could have initiated manual samples to see just how long it took to disperse from the AIO chambers where I add the dose to the Seneye in the main display by the overflow, but I did not do that.

 

[CoralClasher]

Not sure if this post should go in the Seneye misread thread or I should grab the fish net. Ammonia went up to 0.031 and I decided to change five gallons. I used the gravel vac added new water ammonia jumped to 0.067.

 

[CoralClasher]

Not sure if this post should go in the Seneye misread thread or I should grab the fish net. Ammonia went up to 0.031 and I decided to change five gallons. I used the gravel vac added new water ammonia jumped to 0.067.

Must of been a misreading. I cleaned the unit and soaked in new saltwater got 0.001 reading. Put it back in the tank 0.012

 

[Jedi1199]

brandon429,​

I am about to start 2 tanks at once. One will be a 55G fish only system running off a canister filter and a HOB skimmer. The other will be a 120G mixed reef with sump, skimmer blah blah. I have a Seneye and would be happy to participate in your experiment.

Let me know,
Steve

 

[TheDragonsReef]

I've done it using ammonia alert badges every time I restart my qt tank. Bottled bacteria definitely works

 

[Jedi1199]

First, I have to say my background is primarily freshwater. I have had a couple different fish only salt water tanks in my time, but never a reef.

I have always started a fish in cycle. Never even used the bottle bacteria. I have never lost a fish, fresh or salt, due to cycling (I've killed them a dozen other ways, but not cycling :-/ ). For fresh water I always used goldfish, and for salt I used Yellow Tail damsels.

 

[Jedi1199]

In this video, Michael Aarons adds fish and bottled bacteria at the same time. He also has a Seneye monitoring his tank.