Weird Ammonia Issues

ceruleanseaslug · 02/20/2016, 12:30 PM

I have a biocube 29 with some lps, soft corals, a rock flower anemone, a clownfish, a pygmy red rooster waspfish, and a flame hawk. (I'm taking it back to the lfs today because it's too aggressive. My corals haven't been doing incredibly lately, and I have 0 nitrates, 0 nitrite, and 0 phosphate. What I do have is 0.25 ammonia and I don't know why it's there. I don't have any filtration besides live rock, and I do five gallon water changes at least once a week. I put in a little seachem prime but I know I need to find a permanent solution. Could my cycle have crashed?

tmz · 02/20/2016, 01:28 PM

.25 could be a testing noise. If the ammonia oxidizing bacteria crashed or was significantly suppressed for some reason, I'd expect a higher reading than 0.25 with fish and food in the system. What do you use to maintain 0 PO4?

jminick2 · 02/20/2016, 01:34 PM

testing noise lemme guess API, plus maybe a little from salt. If your tank has been set up for awhile and is properly cycled there is really no point in testing ammonia unless something big died or you added liverock. I'm sure its fine.

ceruleanseaslug · 02/20/2016, 04:01 PM

Okay well I'll still have to figure out why the corals aren't doing incredibly well. Thank you.

ceruleanseaslug · 02/20/2016, 04:03 PM

And honestly I dont do anything to maintain 0 P04 so I guess that might also be a problem with the test kit. It doesn't make any sense to me that it's at 0.

bertoni · 02/20/2016, 09:29 PM

I would keep dosing the Prime for a while, although I agree that the ammonia might be a measurement error. I'd probably get a second opinion on the test kit before doing anything.

tmz · 02/21/2016, 09:08 AM

Well PO4 can read low especially in new tanks with new sand and light feeding. In any case , I doubt a phosphate deficiency is limiting the ammonia oxidizing bacteria. .25 false readings for ammonia seem to occur with many test kits from time to time.

theman772 · 02/21/2016, 09:20 AM

How old is your Prime if it's dead you are adding ammonia

ceruleanseaslug · 02/27/2016, 08:55 AM

I've only had it for a couple of months and I usually don't add it all I only started when I got the readings

02/20/2016, 12:30 PM	#1
ceruleanseaslug Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 93	Weird Ammonia Issues I have a biocube 29 with some lps, soft corals, a rock flower anemone, a clownfish, a pygmy red rooster waspfish, and a flame hawk. (I'm taking it back to the lfs today because it's too aggressive. My corals haven't been doing incredibly lately, and I have 0 nitrates, 0 nitrite, and 0 phosphate. What I do have is 0.25 ammonia and I don't know why it's there. I don't have any filtration besides live rock, and I do five gallon water changes at least once a week. I put in a little seachem prime but I know I need to find a permanent solution. Could my cycle have crashed?

02/20/2016, 01:28 PM	#2
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	.25 could be a testing noise. If the ammonia oxidizing bacteria crashed or was significantly suppressed for some reason, I'd expect a higher reading than 0.25 with fish and food in the system. What do you use to maintain 0 PO4? __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

02/20/2016, 09:29 PM	#6
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I would keep dosing the Prime for a while, although I agree that the ammonia might be a measurement error. I'd probably get a second opinion on the test kit before doing anything. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

02/21/2016, 09:08 AM	#7
tmz ReefKeeping Mag staff Join Date: Apr 2006 Location: West Seneca NY Posts: 27,691	Well PO4 can read low especially in new tanks with new sand and light feeding. In any case , I doubt a phosphate deficiency is limiting the ammonia oxidizing bacteria. .25 false readings for ammonia seem to occur with many test kits from time to time. __________________ Tom Current Tank Info: Tank of the Month , November 2011 : 600gal integrated system: 3 display tanks (120 g, 90g, 89g),several frag/grow out tanks, macroalgae refugia, cryptic zones. 40+ fish, seahorses, sps,lps,leathers, zoanthidae and non photosynthetic corals.

02/21/2016, 09:20 AM	#8
theman772 Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: El Monte ca Posts: 262	Ammonia How old is your Prime if it's dead you are adding ammonia

02/20/2016, 01:34 PM	#3
jminick2 Registered Member Join Date: Jan 2015 Posts: 1,226	testing noise lemme guess API, plus maybe a little from salt. If your tank has been set up for awhile and is properly cycled there is really no point in testing ammonia unless something big died or you added liverock. I'm sure its fine.

02/20/2016, 04:01 PM	#4
ceruleanseaslug Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 93	Okay well I'll still have to figure out why the corals aren't doing incredibly well. Thank you.

02/20/2016, 04:03 PM	#5
ceruleanseaslug Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 93	And honestly I dont do anything to maintain 0 P04 so I guess that might also be a problem with the test kit. It doesn't make any sense to me that it's at 0.

02/27/2016, 08:55 AM	#9
ceruleanseaslug Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2015 Posts: 93	I've only had it for a couple of months and I usually don't add it all I only started when I got the readings