Red Sea multi test kit testing blue for ammonia

[prince.aquatics]

Hello guys, I’m new to the hobby. I did a test on my 14.5 g salt water tank with two small clown fish and a cleaner shrimp and ammonia is turning blue. Is this an ammonia spike?

 

[Fish Fan]

Assuming the reagents are good, and the test was performed correctly, it does indeed look like an ammonia spike.

Did you nitrogen cycle the tank before adding the Clownfish?

 

[prince.aquatics]

Yes I did do a nitrogen cycle, I even had a bacteria bloom with cloudy water which calmed down after a week. Ammonia went really low after that then I added live stock. I was over feeding from the beginning but stopped when I researched that could mess with the tank. Then for two days in a roll I’ve had blue colour test on ammonia. I’ve been using seachem prime since then and my water is crystal clear.the clown fish and cleaner shrimp are not showing no signs of stress. They are active and are eating okay.

 

[prince.aquatics]

That’s the water atm very clear

 

[Fish Fan]

I would stop using the Prime, it doesn't really do what it says on the bottle, and I have heard in the past that it can give you a false reading for ammonia. I don't know for sure if that's true, but it could explain the high ammonia tests you're seeing.

Accurate or not, Clownfish are pretty tolerant of ammonia, and if they're doing well you might as well keep going at this point. Cut back the food, Clownfish always look hungry, they don't need to eat every time

 

[prince.aquatics]

Thanks I will try that.i will update you

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

How exactly did you cycle the tank?

When you had the bacterial bloom, did you remove it by water change? That might have removed a lot of bacteria that you initially though drove a nitrogen cycle. Ordinarily that is not a concern, but a bloom during cycling is unusual.

 

[Fish Fan]

How exactly did you cycle the tank?

When you had the bacterial bloom, did you remove it by water change? That might have removed a lot of bacteria that you initially though drove a nitrogen cycle. Ordinarily that is not a concern, but a bloom during cycling is unusual.

Could I please ask: I have heard in the past that using Prime can cause a false high reading for ammonia, is that true?

Thank you!

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

It does not. It likely only causes a false high reading in the mind of someone who believed that it reduced ammonia.

This thread shows many tests showing no effect on reported ammonia, up or down:

Does Prime actually "Detoxify" free ammonia, NH3?

This started when @Dan_P was looking at measuring NH3 with seneye and was curious about performance near zero NH3. I suggested trying Prime to artificially zero out the NH3 sensor, and the results were weird... so I checked with my seachem kit. Prime by Seachem is commonly used to treat tap...

www.reef2reef.com

 

[Fish Fan]

It does not. It likely only causes a false high reading in the mind of someone who believed that it reduced ammonia.

^I think that right there is what people are seeing, and I didn't think of that

Thanks, Randy!

 

[prince.aquatics]

How exactly did you cycle the tank?

When you had the bacterial bloom, did you remove it by water change? That might have removed a lot of bacteria that you initially though drove a nitrogen cycle. Ordinarily that is not a concern, but a bloom during cycling is unusual.

I cycled for 5 weeks. I only did a 10% water change when it bloomed and started using prime until it calmed down. Ammonia has been showing when I have been testing. It only change when I did the post here asking for help. I too, a sample to my local fish shop and ammonia tested very low and they told I got couple days and cycle is actually done

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

Cycled by doing what?

 

[prince.aquatics]

I used this to cycle

 

[Fish Fan]

I used this to cycle

I think it might help if you could answer just a few questions for Randy and others to better help you:

You started your tank, got everything running, and added the Nitrobiotic product, yes?
It sounds like that was one week before adding your Clownfish, yes?
Did you add any source of ammonia to the tank when you added the Nitrobiotic product (a piece of shrimp, fish food, ammonia from a bottle)?
Did you measure ammonia in the week before you got your Clownfish?
How long have you had the Clowns now?

The more you can share with us, the better we can help you

 

[prince.aquatics]

The week I started my tank and got everything running, I only added fish food for the first three days. After that, I started using NitricBiotic as the source of beneficial bacteria. Four days later, I began testing and could see the presence of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, but the levels were high. I continued using NitricBiotic and adding fish food for another two weeks. By the fourth week, the ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels had dropped. Around that time, I had a spike where the water became very cloudy. This happened about a day after the fourth week and gradually cleared up over six days, during which ammonia had dropped. I then did a 10–20% water change and added two small clownfish, a cleaner shrimp, and two Nassarius snails. That same day, I think I overfed the tank. Two days later, ammonia spiked, so I started using Seachem Prime for five days. When I tested again, I got a blue ammonia reading.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

If the fish seem to be struggling at all, I'd remove them.

I'd personally add a different bacteria product (Fritz Trubo Start). I do not know how long that Tropic Marin product takes to work, but some take a considerable time. The way you cycled you cannot know if it worked or not.

I'd get an API test kit (or other brand) and measure ammonia. If ammonia is over 0.3 ppm, I'd use water changes to bring it down. If it is 0.2 ppm or less, I'd call it cycled and move on.

 

[prince.aquatics]

Took your advise and tank is now cycled. I’ve added more live stock and some beginner friendly corals

 

[prince.aquatics]

 

[Dan_P]

Could I please ask: I have heard in the past that using Prime can cause a false high reading for ammonia, is that true?

Thank you!

Prime like all such products are also chlorine reducers. Since chlorine is part of the salicylate test method for ammonia, Prime will interfere and produce a low or zero test result.

 

[Fish Fan]

Prime like all such products are also chlorine reducers. Since chlorine is part of the salicylate test method for ammonia, Prime will interfere and produce a low or zero test result.

Thank you for your reply!

Interesting to me, I saw someone post just recently, claiming again that after adding Ammo-Lock their ammonia concentration appeared to go up. I have often seen other people post the same, but I guess I'm not sure what these people are experiencing

Thank you again for your reply!