Accurate Low Level Ammonia Tests?

[Davidtq]

Does anyone know of a brand of test kit that goes down to very low levels of ammonia for fresh water tanks?

The lowest I have at the moment is API which accurately goes down to 0.25, Im looking for something with more resolution at the lower end perhaps 8 steps between 0.25 to 0 mg/l.

The reason for this is that I will before long be starting up a new tank using old fashioned fish cycling, and I want to be able to keep a really close eye on ammonia levels, normally ammonia levels stay "under 0.25mgl", but id like some degree of accuracy to the measurements. Try to get an accurate picture of just how low or high the levels of ammonia get in the tank, rather than just saying "yes theres a trace".

Im going to be starting up a 160l tank for my son starting most likely with 3 cory's measurements based on previous tank setups Ive done suggest that I can expect to see an ammonia peak of somewhere around 0.07 mg/l the API test kit I have is useless for anything like that sort of level.

 

[Bignose]

I doubt you're going to find anything for less than several hundred dollars. Getting more accuracy is going to cost you -- you're going to need lab grade equipment and that stuff isn't cheap.

 

[rdd1952]

I've never heard of anything that accurate. I'm sure there are ways to measure as the water companies have to be very precise with their measurements but as mentioned, it will be expensive. Just on a side note, I'm not sure corys are the best fish to cycle with. Almost everything I've ever read says they are a little on the delicate side and don't handle ammonia and nitrite too well.

As for the peak at .07ppm, I would certainly expect the ammonia to definitely get over 1ppm unless you feed very lightly and do water changes although 40 gallons with only 3 corys could possibly keep it that under 1. I just think higher than .25 on the chart even with only 3 fish.

 

[Davidtq]

I've never heard of anything that accurate. I'm sure there are ways to measure as the water companies have to be very precise with their measurements but as mentioned, it will be expensive. Just on a side note, I'm not sure corys are the best fish to cycle with. Almost everything I've ever read says they are a little on the delicate side and don't handle ammonia and nitrite too well.

As for the peak at .07ppm, I would certainly expect the ammonia to definitely get over 1ppm unless you feed very lightly and do water changes although 40 gallons with only 3 corys could possibly keep it that under 1. I just think higher than .25 on the chart even with only 3 fish.

The water companies probably use colorimeters, the cheapest version of those I can find is around $335. I will find it hard to justify the cost of one of those for around a year. And Im not planning on setting up many more tanks certainly by that time I hope I will have all my long term tanks done for a few years. I was hoping that there was a version of an ammonia test kit that worked high and low range like the salifert nitrate kit does for my marine tank. There you look top down for high level readings and then from the side to do low level readings down to quite a nice accuracy.

What do you base your 1ppm figure on? Ive been keeping an eye on my fish cycling tanks for years the higest fish cycling reading Ive ever had is a solid 0.25ppm (Deliberate attempt to get a calculable figure with a single fish in a 30l tank) normally I get mingled shades between 0.25 and 0 or as some brands put it "trace" often with decent size tanks you have to assume theres ammonia present as it doesnt show a discernable shade on kits! however if setting up a new tank I will happily let the fish go 4-5 days without food / with sparse feeding) to give the tank a proper chance to start to cycle without overloading.

People do get dangerously high ammonia readings when fish cycling when they put inappropriate numbers of fish in at once and feed heavily from the start. Slow stocking and sparse feeding leads to exceptionally low levels of ammonia. with 3 cory's in a 160l tank I would not expect to get a measureable reading of ammonia on a regular test kit. Experience tells me that I could easily get away with 6 small fish without causing any stress or problems in a tank of that volume with a decent external filter

Corys are one of the hardiest fish going, although they still dont like high ammonia and nitrite levels which can affect their barbels it wont kill them as quickly as it does other fish. I still wouldnt put them in anything over 0.25ppm but they can as Ive seen from various tank disasters over 30 years of fish keeping stand ammonia levels \ conditions that kill even big hardy cichlids. One of their main reasons for survival is that they dont rely solely on their gills for oxygen, they can take their oxygen directly from the air using their intestines. They "swallow" air and digest the oxygen through their swim bladder. However again they should never need to rely on this when slowly stocking a tank.

 

[rdd1952]

What do you base your 1ppm figure on? Ive been keeping an eye on my fish cycling tanks for years the higest fish cycling reading Ive ever had is a solid 0.25ppm (Deliberate attempt to get a calculable figure with a single fish in a 30l tank) normally I get mingled shades between 0.25 and 0 or as some brands put it "trace" often with decent size tanks you have to assume theres ammonia present as it doesnt show a discernable shade on kits! however if setting up a new tank I will happily let the fish go 4-5 days without food / with sparse feeding) to give the tank a proper chance to start to cycle without overloading.

I guess it's the hundreds of threads we see from people who have extremely high ammonia readings during their cycles even with only a few fish. It sounds as if you have done it enough that you know how to keep the levels from rising too quickly. I'm sure the high levels that most newbies get is from both too many fish to start and over feeding. You could actually move some media over from one of your other tanks and not see any ammonia or nitrite at all.