Ammonia Level Reading

[TigerIssey]

What are the test results for the tank today??
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate

 

[charles bentley]

i am just on with them naw, will post results asap

 

[charles bentley]

my nitrite level is less than 0.1mg/l on the colour scale
my nitrate level is less than 5 mg/l on the colour scale

 

[Truck]

my nitrite level is less than 0.1mg/l on the colour scale
my nitrate level is less than 5 mg/l on the colour scale

i replied to a post like this yesterday, as i (in a different thread) and tiger issey suggested taking the fish bag would be good, and starting fresh when you have a basic understanding.

you should NOT have a nitrite reading, what about ammonia and everything else?

 

[charles bentley]

my results today
ammonia 0.081ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

my results yesterday
0.081ppm
nitrite 0ppm
nitrate 0ppm

 

[Truck]

its still not processing ammonia properly, and you need loads more live rock, and you risk a spike then, which could wipe out the tank...i would take them back (fish/inverts etc) and get more rock in their and get it cycled and then slowly stock it back up again.

 

[charles bentley]

If i add live rock as it is, and leave the fish, inverts and corals in the tank what will the chance of them surviving be? ie less or more than 50% could i try it with 10kg of live rock and 50% ro water change?

 

[TigerIssey]

I was hoping ski may be right and you would be ok.

I do tend to to agree with Truck though. The ammonia is no different today and you have no Nitrate reading which indicates to me that you are at the start and not the end of the cycle.

For a 240litre tank the amount of live rock for filtration is 26kg. You are going to get a fair spike unless you get it in extremely quickly from the lfs to your tank. It can be done but you will risk the fish and I would be particularly worried about the inverts especially any snails as they are so sensitive.

 

[Truck]

If i add live rock as it is, and leave the fish, inverts and corals in the tank what will the chance of them surviving be? ie less or more than 50% could i try it with 10kg of live rock and 50% ro water change?

the chances would be 99% of all live stock dying, because of the bacteria that have died rotting in the tank causing the ammonia and cycling it. do the sensible thing...take the fish back, cycle properly and make sure they dont die instead of risking it.

 

[TigerIssey]

If you ask at the same lfs you get your stock from they may well just keep them for you for a few weeks till you are sorted. Alot will build up a relationship with marine customers, especially if haveing a reef tank as you are going to spend an awful lot of money in there.

Just reread instructions (don't use this often as its been ages since I needed ammo test).

The result is the reading from the colour chart so it looks like ammonia is actually at 2.4mg/l or if pH is 7.6 not 7.8 then reading is 3.7mg/l.

The Number chart is just supposed to be used to see how toxic the ammonia is. I am guessing for salt water the red amber green on the number chart will be at lower levels than for fresh due to the fact that saltwater fish are far more sensitive to ammonia than freshwater.

 

[ben1987]

you need to get the fish into a suitable tank ASAP. Then cycle the tank properly and start agin.

I would ditch the tap water, look into liver rock as you filteration and try and find somewhere you can sourse RO water form. Or buy an RO unit

 

[n3ont3tra]

Out of curiousity, what are you using that can detect 0.081 ppm of ammonia?

 

[Underwurlde]

^ That's what I was wondering!!!!

 

[TigerIssey]

The test kit is supposed to be Nutrafin master test kit. Not sure if it reads that accurate!

EDIT
I have just looked at the Nutrafin freshwater ammonia kit.

Once you have a colour for your reading example 1.2 you then look at a chart against the pH of the water you are testing. This gives you the actual ammonia level. For 1.2 on the test kit with a pH of 7.8 you would have a reading of 0.04. For ammonia reading of 2.4 with pH 7.8 your actual reading is 0.08 etc.

This is obviously an indication of how toxic the ammonia will be as ammonia in a tank with a low pH is less toxic than in a tank with high pH.

Not sure really how accurate this is though.

 

[Underwurlde]

^ that is accurate. Table simply graphs a mathematical relationship... can't recall it off the top of my head though.

% Toxic ammonia of ammonia reading shown by the test kit is governed by pH and to a lesser extent water temperature.

However, something is hopefully not right, if he actually meant that he has 0.081ppm toxic ammonia in his tank then I'd suspect all his fish have about 12 hours to live. Consider anything >0.02ppm toxic ammonia as being lethal I think.

Andy