Salifert ammonia reading problem

mooputingtong

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Im on 20th days of cycle and i have 1 juvenille wrasse and a bi color blenny. Im having problems with reading salifert kits. Is this zero or 0.15ppm? Im having diffculty reading these salifert kits all the time.. My nitrate is also showing either 10 or less than 25. I just cant get this results right.

20200925_103205.jpg 20200925_103201.jpg
 

brandon429

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this tank is cycled 100% agreed, the fish would not live past 48 hours were that not the case. honors go to SeaBass at nano-reef.com she told me that salifert has imperfection ammonia reads just like api and red sea, this is one case.

if any tester makes us doubt cycle completion, then that's a C- tester. seneye only has this problem .0001% of the time

the rest of the time using seneye we do know if ammonia is safe, reliably. and seneye readings match the visual tank biology, such as happy fish/not dead or darting near death from nh3 toxicity

the non seneye kits give us ghost reads, that brings concern, and do not match the visual tank biology.

In every case, seeing a picture of the aquarium to note fish distribution in the pic + knowing if the reef is older than 48 hours is the most reliable nh3 troubleshooting we have. ammonia by pic, that's ironic in a world of chemistry titration test-based solutions.

This thread is now linked to our false stalled cycle thread in the new posters forum, and we haven't even see pics yet :)
 

ScubaFish802

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I’ve started using both the API and Salifert for Ammonia. The Salifert always looks like that for me as well, but API always comes up a solid yellow - 0
 
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mooputingtong

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If fish are alive and happy your tank is cycled.
Salifert ammonia is hard for me to read too.
Registering nitrate already means everyone is doing their job just fine.
All of my inverts and two fish are doing good but i had two goby that just died. I found one dead under a sand and other one were really skinny and it was going crazy going upside down and it died after a day.i did put my goby in a floating breeding box. Im noy sure this is due to ammonia attack or sick fish or lack of oxygen due to placing floating box very top of the tank.
 
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mooputingtong

mooputingtong

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I’ve started using both the API and Salifert for Ammonia. The Salifert always looks like that for me as well, but API always comes up a solid yellow - 0
Companies should release kits that are really accurate and easy to read. All of the kits are just stressful reading and it looks different based on what lights u have
 

brandon429

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I like to be able to rail on non seneye ammonia testers for days

but I just caught another clue that makes me have to credit this one, dangit.

after TAN conversion to separate total nitrogen from nh3, the species we care about, that read above matches what seneye would say lol hundredths or thousands ppm.

i still love seneye more. dangit, that's an exceptionally accurate kit that matches the visual tank biology, I forgot my TAN conversions on the previous rail.
 

ScubaFish802

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Companies should release kits that are really accurate and easy to read. All of the kits are just stressful reading and it looks different based on what lights u have
I’ve started asking my GF to read the tests after I have and compare what she says to what I originally read.
I’m thinking of grabbing the Hanna testers in the near future so I can always get a # readout instead of the colors.
 
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mooputingtong

mooputingtong

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this tank is cycled 100% agreed, the fish would not live past 48 hours were that not the case. honors go to SeaBass at nano-reef.com she told me that salifert has imperfection ammonia reads just like api and red sea, this is one case.

if any tester makes us doubt cycle completion, then that's a C- tester. seneye only has this problem .0001% of the time

the rest of the time using seneye we do know if ammonia is safe, reliably. and seneye readings match the visual tank biology, such as happy fish/not dead or darting near death from nh3 toxicity

the non seneye kits give us ghost reads, that brings concern, and do not match the visual tank biology.

In every case, seeing a picture of the aquarium to note fish distribution in the pic + knowing if the reef is older than 48 hours is the most reliable nh3 troubleshooting we have. ammonia by pic, that's ironic in a world of chemistry titration test-based solutions.
The last fish i added was goby and found dead after a day or two.
I’ve started asking my GF to read the tests after I have and compare what she says to what I originally read.
I’m thinking of grabbing the Hanna testers in the near future so I can always get a # readout instead of the colors.
But are there ammonia and nitrate kit for hanna checker? Hanna nitrate checker only shows 0-0.5ppm.
 

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I’ve started asking my GF to read the tests after I have and compare what she says to what I originally read.
I’m thinking of grabbing the Hanna testers in the near future so I can always get a # readout instead of the colors.

hanna have their issues too, some more than others, I would research well before forking out for all Hanna readers.
 
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mooputingtong

mooputingtong

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Might help to compare the colour with the same volume of tank water, but imo salifert ammonia test needs improvement.
I think all of the test kits needs an improvement. Its an eye balling and im always having hard time reading.
 

ScubaFish802

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hanna have their issues too, some more than others, I would research well before forking out for all Hanna readers.
That’s good to know. I usually only see people raving about how badly we all need them. I was thinking the phosphate, Cal, DKH set of three testers would make my life easier
 
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mooputingtong

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this tank is cycled 100% agreed, the fish would not live past 48 hours were that not the case. honors go to SeaBass at nano-reef.com she told me that salifert has imperfection ammonia reads just like api and red sea, this is one case.

if any tester makes us doubt cycle completion, then that's a C- tester. seneye only has this problem .0001% of the time

the rest of the time using seneye we do know if ammonia is safe, reliably. and seneye readings match the visual tank biology, such as happy fish/not dead or darting near death from nh3 toxicity

the non seneye kits give us ghost reads, that brings concern, and do not match the visual tank biology.

In every case, seeing a picture of the aquarium to note fish distribution in the pic + knowing if the reef is older than 48 hours is the most reliable nh3 troubleshooting we have. ammonia by pic, that's ironic in a world of chemistry titration test-based solutions.

This thread is now linked to our false stalled cycle thread in the new posters forum, and we haven't even see pics yet :)
Why did my last two goby were dead? Its an mystery im not sure its due to ammonia attack or sicken fish
 

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I think all of the test kits needs an improvement. Its an eye balling and im always having hard time reading.

to a certain degree but not all tests need to be exact, as long as you can get a consistent reading, that’s all some tests warrant...is my nitrate going up or down, ammonia is one that needs to be precise.
 

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That’s good to know. I usually only see people raving about how badly we all need them. I was thinking the phosphate, Cal, DKH set of three testers would make my life easier

out of the 3 phosphate is the one I was considering, read good and bad, thought I’d go for it, was ordering on the phone and the guy told me not to buy it, he recommended salifert, so a £10 recommendation over a £75 Hanna, I agree salifert is good but for sps I would go for elos, lps salifert or elos, may still try Hanna phosphate when I have some money burning a hole, dkh And cal find salifert very good.
 

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I’ve started asking my GF to read the tests after I have and compare what she says to what I originally read.
I’m thinking of grabbing the Hanna testers in the near future so I can always get a # readout instead of the colors.
Good idea. They see colors more vividly then men. Rods and cones :)
 

brandon429

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regarding dead gobies, unable to know without a necropsy

its not ammonia though, ammonia doesn't target only two fish and leave the others. post tank pics

ammonia noncontrol events are reported as whole-tank events, not select fish.
 
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mooputingtong

mooputingtong

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regarding dead gobies, unable to know without a necropsy

its not ammonia though, ammonia doesn't target only two fish and leave the others. post tank pics

ammonia noncontrol events are reported as whole-tank events, not select fish.
I will post my tank pics when i get home. Thanks!
 

brandon429

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We never discerned bottle bac use


I went solely off living fish within this time frame to assume the tank was cycled commonly either with live rock or bottled bac and twenty days is longer than any of their instruction time on the labels, assessing your cycle done had components

The fact you don't have much ammonia there above signifies it's not built up, fish waste being taken care of is easy for today's bottle bac

how did you cycle it
 

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