Overdosed Ammonium Hydroxide

[NewRobert]

Evening All,

(First marine tank so please be understanding)

I finally got my new tank's (100 gallon) return plumbed in and salinity to 1.023 as per LFS recommendation. The LFS recommended getting the cycle started with half a bottle of Continuum Bacter Gen-MD. I had some doubts so decided to kick it off with some ammonia levels in the aquarium first.

I got some Ammonium Hydroxide from the local pharmacy. I thought (for some reason) that the concentration of pure ammonia is 28% as I read somewhere online that this is the maximum strength you can get. Using an online calculator I got a calculation of dosing 4.5ml to get to 3ppm.

I dosed +/- 5ml (Used a spoon, should've used a dropper I know). This set off such a toxic smell that I had to evacuate my family from the home. I have checked with a pharmaceutical chemistry major and his opinion is that my ammonium hydroxide is 100% strength which essentially means I dosed 12ppm for the roughly 400l of water. The bottle from the pharmacy doesn't give a strength at all. I used my Tropic Marin test-kit and got a result that is simply off the chart or unreadable. I have been having weird issues with this test kit (it turns the result black) on my freshwater tanks, so I have ordered another kit from Sera in the meantime.

For the time being I am going to assume my ammonia is somewhere in the region of 8-12ppm. I have dosed the 20ml Bacter Gen-MD as well as 40ml Seachem Stability and will most likely leave things as-is until the new test-kit arrive.

My question is this (sorry for the long description): Is there any point in leaving the tank alone for 2-days and testing the ammonia level with the new kit once I have received it? Or should I just stop bothering and change 50% of the water out now already to deal with the ammonia overdose so long? Not sure if cycling will even happen if I have in fact created a 12ppm ammonia solution.

Please advise, what would you do?

 

[Bryn]

Leave it alone. I have dosed 10ppm before on dry rock, and after about 5 days the ammonia came down, and cycled fine with no addition of bacteria.

 

[NewRobert]

Leave it alone. I have dosed 10ppm before on dry rock, and after about 5 days the ammonia came down, and cycled fine with no addition of bacteria.

Thanks Bryn, I'll do that and test again after a few days

 

[Flippers4pups]

I agree, leave it alone. It will be consumed over time.

 

[lion king]

Did you actually test for ammonia, it takes so much longer for the cycle if you are starting from such a high number. I would test and bring it down with a water change if necessary.

 

[NewRobert]

I think where I am now still at having ordered a new testing kit I will give It some time to settle and after this arrives will make a decision from there. Pity that none of the ammonia test kits that I have found can measure past 3ppm.

When I don't see that ammonia numbers come down in 5 days and nitrites not coming up from 0, I will most likely be doing a large (200l) water change and see where I am at.

So far hoping I can just leave it as is and the chemistry somehow finds a way to break it down to where I can keep measurable track of things.

Thank you all for your advise!

 

[Bryn]

I think where I am now still at having ordered a new testing kit I will give It some time to settle and after this arrives will make a decision from there. Pity that none of the ammonia test kits that I have found can measure past 3ppm.

When I don't see that ammonia numbers come down in 5 days and nitrites not coming up from 0, I will most likely be doing a large (200l) water change and see where I am at.

So far hoping I can just leave it as is and the chemistry somehow finds a way to break it down to where I can keep measurable track of things.

Thank you all for your advise!

Following up on your progress. How is it going?

 

[NewRobert]

Following up on your progress. How is it going?

Hey thanks for following up on this, greatly appreciated.

I tested day before yesterday, and ammonia was already dropped at 2ppm-3ppm and nitrite was already showing at 0.1ppm

I dosed 40ml Seachem Stability and 20ml Bacter-Gen MD again

I plan to do another test today and if the ammonia has dropped to below 2ppm will add more of the ammonium hydroxide - this time by taking 5 gallons of water out, mixing the ammonium hydroxide in the bucket outdoors and putting it back in.

I got an NH4/NH3 testing kit from Sera to test with now. The Tropic Marin testing kit is just too terrible to work with. Resulting colour doesn't look anywhere near the chart provided for the marine tank (it goes cloudy and dark). On my freshwater tanks it also goes completely black so I can't trust it at all. The Sera test looks great and the colours match on the chart beautifully. It also has a much wider range than the Tropic Marin testing kit.

I will most likely have to go to the local pet shop today to pick up a replacement eel for my son's freshwater tank (his committed suicide into the filter) and some flea/worm thing for my wife's dog so I will pick up an alkalinity test kit as well as a pH test kit for salt-water as mine is only freshwater.

 

[NewRobert]

It would seem that I am making every single mistake in the book here.

I did some tests, Ammonia is at 2ppm and Nitrite still at 0.1 ppm

However, it would seem that I had some undissolved salt my tank, refractometer is now reading 1.028 instead of 1.023.

Will this be an issue for my cycle? Should I water-change it out to have my cycle run better or can I leave it until my first water change to remove nitrates?

 

[NewRobert]

Nevermind, it seems I got a bad test result from my refractometer somehow.

Current values:

Ammonia = 2ppm
Nitrate = 5ppm
Nitrite = 0.1ppm
pH = 8.2
Alkalinity = 6.0 dH
Salinity = 1.024

I dosed another 20ml Bacter-Gen MD and 40ml Seachem Stability.

First question:

I am curious whether the Continuum Bacter-Gen MD or Seachem Stability will give me false Nitrate readings? Would like to understand if my current Nitrate level is because of a "Real Bacteria Cycle" which means things are moving along or alternatively whether the products I am using is adding/contributing to the level of Nitrite and Nitrate that I am getting from my testing kit? Any light shown here would be appreciated.

I plan to let Ammonia drop to 1ppm before dosing Ammonium Hydroxide again (this time safely in a bucket outside).

Water is kind of cloudy, but I am aware that Seachem Stability does that frequently in my freshwater tanks too so not too worried about it.

Second question:

My feet are going in for a minor day-procedure under the knife so mobility will be an issue going forward for the next week or so. Should I prepare or plan on doing any water changes anytime soon or just leave it in peace and let it do its thing?

Third question:

My family may be relocating to the other side of the country somewhere early August while I will still be stuck here for quite a while and since it was the king of father's day presents forever, I would like to host an inauguration of some sorts to put a few critters in the tank, and maybe a sacrificial fish or so, just for them to have some joy before they leave. Maybe the entire tank will be moved to their side in a year, who knows. It is just something I think they deserve.

Can anyone give me any idea of what my timeline to this would be by the way things are looking now? It'd be greatly appreciated.

Thank you kindly, you all and all of your advice and assisting one another on here is truly a beautiful rarity to experience and be a part of and I am enjoying this site immensely.

I am now officially 7 days into cycling, have missed some Seachem Stability doses some days but hoping to stay on top of it from here on forward.

 

[Shawn.B]

Shut the lights off and don't look at it for a week, maybe two.... Remember your cycling lol

If you are planning on moving within the year I would be second guessing this setup, I hate to be a downer but things are going to just be getting "perfect" and it will be time to take it down unfortunately

 

[NewRobert]

Excuse the pictures - mobile phone camera only and lighting in here is generally bad already.

Normal Lights - Blues & Whites

White Lights Only

Blues Only

 

[NewRobert]

Shut the lights off and don't look at it for a week, maybe two.... Remember your cycling lol

Would shutting the lights off have any effect on the cycle? We're kind of liking looking at it and dreaming about having something that breathes inside it. We as a family, kids and all, have been dreaming of having our first marine tank for over 2 years now!

 

[NewRobert]

ssshHHH don't tell anyone about the secret scheming plot that is discussed frequently in the office and around the dinner table that there is a nice planted tank right next to it with a good supply of Mollies we don't know what to do with...

 

[Shawn.B]

Would shutting the lights off have any effect on the cycle? We're kind of liking looking at it and dreaming about having something that breathes inside it. We as a family, kids and all, have been dreaming of having our first marine tank for over 2 years now!

It won't do anything except keep you away from it for a little while haha you gotta leave it alone! I would stop dosing and leave it be for a while

 

[NewRobert]

Shut the lights off and don't look at it for a week, maybe two.... Remember your cycling lol

If you are planning on moving within the year I would be second guessing this setup, I hate to be a downer but things are going to just be getting "perfect" and it will be time to take it down unfortunately

Shawn, aware of this. Idea is to maybe just get comfortable with the idea of running a marine tank and maybe in a year or whenever I move, do it over correcting this time for everything that I have learned

 

[NewRobert]

Hey just an update.

I am done adding Bacter-Gen MD and Seachem Stability since the 22nd of this month. At that stage Ammonia read 1.5ppm and Nitrite was 0.1ppm

Today (the 27th), Ammonia dropped to 1ppm and Nitrite of 0.2ppm.

Do you think this is on-track at any reasonable schedule or should I be doing something different?

 

[NewRobert]

Uhm, help?

I haven't dosed anything since the 22nd (more than 2 weeks ago) and have never added any more ammonium hydroxide since the first overdose and all of a sudden my ammonia is spiked to more than 5mg/l!

Is this normal? What on earth could be going on?

 

[NewRobert]

This is what the test looks like

 

[brandon429]

a big detail we need to know


those blue rocks, are those real live rocks, or caribsea liferocks let me know, it matters on how long your cycle will take. nothing you've done so far will affect your cycle completion date, the ability to lay bioslicks on surfaces that filter waste and arent harmed by water changes.

*what your big dose will do: create wastewater and mixed nitrogen species that takes weeks and months to self degrade into compliance*

thankfully you wont have to wait any longer than normal

your filter bioslicks are forming regardless of the boost, you over boosted but you didnt create bathroom cleaner level, you created ultra feed level/ smells bad

so, in about ten days total time, change out that water for new and its cycled, and it will pass a normal level oxidation test for ammonia, which is the only param that matters. Nitrite no longer matters in cycling, per updated rules for 2020 and beyond