Seachem Ammonia Alert "Badge" is Snake Oil...

[grassy_noel]

So, I'm setting up a quarantine tank. I am cycling it with Dr. Tim's One and Only and Ammonium Chloride. Since I need to wait until ammonia reaches zero between each dose of the ammonium chloride, I figured I'd pick up a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge. The idea was that I would dose ammonium chloride to 2.0 ppm and then wait for the badge to show me zero ammonia before dosing again. Repeat three times, water change, done.

Well...yesterday I added the bacteria and the first dose of ammonium chloride (4 drops per gallon says the label) so 30 drops in my 10 gallon tank with 7.5 net gallons after rock and other stuff. Badge didn't really register anything, but the box said it might take 4+ hours to start working, so I ignored it and waited the recommended 24 hours.

Came back this morning, badge is reading "ALERT 0.05 ppm". That's close enough to zero for me, so I dose the ammonium chloride again. 30 more drops. Wait a few hours. Check the tag again and now it's reading close to "ALARM 0.2 ppm" (see photo). I'm thinking, "man, this bacteria really works fast" assuming that it had processed the 2 ppm down to 0.2 ppm in 3 hours. So I figure, let's check this, maybe I've got some Nitrite going already...

One Red Sea test panel later and I'm like what the heck. Nitrite is reading 0.00 ppm (not surprised, it's only been about 30 hours). Nitrate is reading 1.0 ppm (this is a little confusing actually, maybe some of the ammonia from yesterday is already fully processed???). And Ammonia is...OFF THE CHARTS. If I had to guess, probably somewhere close to the 4 ppm that I've dosed over the last two days (see photo).

So, my conclusions are two:

1. This Ammonia "Alert" badge is worthless. I'm throwing it away unless someone tells me the mistake I've made and how to make it work properly (and yes, I did take the protective plastic film off).

2. Dr. Tim's is not as fast at processing ammonia as it claims to be. I added a 2 ml bottle to a 7.5 gal system, which should be more than enough. Dr. Tim says it's not at all surprising to have ammonia from 2 ppm down to 0 ppm in 24 hours. I'm not even close to that.

Either way, there's nothing alive in the system and I have plenty of time, so there's no harm. I just thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone else thought a battery-free constant ammonia monitor that works for a year and costs only $7 is too good to be true. I believe it is.

 

[MTBake]

I didn't have any trouble with any of the ammonia alert badges I've used over the years. I never used one to cycle an aquarium either. I always used a test kit for that.

I didn't have much luck with Dr. Tim's one and only. Took 3 months to cycle a new tank. Bio-Spira is my go to these days. Especially for qt tanks.

 

[infinite0180]

The ammonia badge only measures free ammonia, not total ammonia. Free ammonia concentration is dependant on temp and pH. Its not the badge... it is only reading a portion of the ammonia in the water, the toxic portion... it is not reading the total ammonia that you are dosing. Use a test kit! The badge is designed to alert you when free ammonia has built up in your tank. Leave it in for when you have livestock. It will be the only way to know ammonia levels while dosing copper!

 

[miPapareef]

Like others said your Red Sea test kit is measuring total versus the Seachem that is reading only free ammonia.

If it’s reading 0.5 then you’re likely at 6ppm total.

You might want to read about how to use the badge, so here’s a link.
https://www.seachem.com/ammonia-alert.php

Interpretation
As little as 0.02 mg/L of free ammonia will produce a greenish hue on the detector surface. This corresponds to a total ammonia (both ionized and free ammonia) of 0.25 mg/L in marine water at pH 8.3. In freshwater at pH 7.0, this corresponds to 3.6 mg/L total ammonia. Free ammonia is much more toxic than ionized ammonia. As free ammonia, the ALERT color corresponds to about 0.05 mg/L, ALARM to about 0.2 mg/L, and TOXIC to about 0.5 mg/L. The ALERT concentration is tolerated for several days, ALARM for a few days, and TOXIC is rapidly harmful. For emergency ammonia removal, treat with AmGuard™. This product is not recommended for use at acid pH.

 

[MnFish1]

And additionally - the badge (as it says) only reads up to .5 ppm. It can't read 2 ppm either way. In other words - I assume (on the badge) that lets say the free ammonia was .7 or .8 - its not like the badge can read it. The use of the badge here would be once it gets into the measurable range. But I agree that a better 'test kit' is the better way to go.

 

[Huff747]

Not that this has anything to do with the badge but I wouldn’t go by the 4drops per gallon on the ammonia either - https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/d...rops-per-gallon-is-wrong.325708/#post-4356935

I don’t know what they were using as a dropper but when I measure out 1 ml which is what the bottle says to use for 20 gallons in a 1ml dropper I only get about 20 drops when I do drops from the syringe. So by their drop math that’s only enough for 5 gallons but by the 1 ml that’s enough for 20 gallons. When I first went by drops when setting up my tank I did drops for 40 gallons and sent it sky high. Since then going by ml has seemed much better and more accurate.

 

[grassy_noel]

Well I feel sheepish!

Thank you all for the help with the test badge. I will read the literature at that link more closely. The instructions on the package were only about two sentences. I guess understanding the difference between total and free ammonia sounds like an important distinction, especially once I have livestock. Also, I’m glad to hear the badge is not faulty, I just need to understand what it is telling me.

I agree that the badge is not helpful for measuring specific, higher levels of ammonia. I wasn’t planning to use it for a measurement, only to see when it had dropped to zero. Now that I understand it is measuring a form of ammonia that is different from what the test kit measures, I guess I’ll revert to the test kit.

Also, thanks for the update about the “drops” recommended by Dr. Tim’s. I will say their literature is shockingly scant. Even the original “fishless cycling” YouTube video is gone from their website.

 

[Mini Coop]

Well I feel sheepish!

Thank you all for the help with the test badge. I will read the literature at that link more closely. The instructions on the package were only about two sentences. I guess understanding the difference between total and free ammonia sounds like an important distinction, especially once I have livestock. Also, I’m glad to hear the badge is not faulty, I just need to understand what it is telling me.

I agree that the badge is not helpful for measuring specific, higher levels of ammonia. I wasn’t planning to use it for a measurement, only to see when it had dropped to zero. Now that I understand it is measuring a form of ammonia that is different from what the test kit measures, I guess I’ll revert to the test kit.

Also, thanks for the update about the “drops” recommended by Dr. Tim’s. I will say their literature is shockingly scant. Even the original “fishless cycling” YouTube video is gone from their website.

I have a lot of experience with QT and often to not have the luxury of completely cycling a QT tank. My go to has been Biospira or Turbo start. I add it as soon as my fish hit the water and also have a seeded sponge in my main tank sump. Then I can always rely on the ammonia badge. I still use an API test every few days just to make sure I don't have a faulty badge, but so far they have been VERY reliable!

 

[grassy_noel]

Yup, now that I’m reading more about it, it looks like my badge is behaving normally (albeit I’m above the range where the badge is intended to be used).

I’m gonna go back to using my Red Sea test kit and only reference the badge once I’m cycled and have some fish in the tank.

I might throw my Seneye in to track ammonia through the cycle, since I have it and the little test chip is probably going to expire eventually.

 

[Crashjack]

I use Biospira and Dr. Tim’s ammonia. My process is, add Biospira then the 4 drops ammonia per gallon (I actually add a little more than that). 2 days later, I add another 4 drops per gallon and then add my two alert badges (I use 2 badges for redundancy). If after 2 more days the badges are yellow, I add another 4 drops per gallon. If a day after that my badges are yellow, I perform a 30%+ water change and then add fish the next day or at least within the next few days. This method has been working great for me.

 

[Randy Holmes-Farley]

I guess understanding the difference between total and free ammonia sounds like an important distinction, especially once I have livestock. Also, I’m glad to hear the badge is not faulty, I just need to understand what it is telling me.

Once you have livestock, you likely won't detect ammonia ever again. Except in a qt tank, it generally is not worth measuring.

 

[grassy_noel]

Yep! Just meant that I would use the badge to monitor ammonia in the QT tank (although if the QT is fully cycled then I'm not sure I'd ever see ammonia there either). Thanks!