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Kaga's Kritters
10-23-2007, 10:51 PM
the ammonia test kit i use in my freshwater i can use in my brackish tank too, right? i keep getting it to read that there is a little bit of ammonia, i even did a 50% water change yesterday and today its saying there is still the same amount of ammonia. their aren't too many fish in it, as i have had more than that in there and never had ammonia probs. i have cut back my feeding to only mon, wed, & fri. what do you think is causing the ammonia?
stunner
10-23-2007, 10:53 PM
I'm not sure. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that you can't use freshwater test kits with marine systems....so I would think that you couldn't use a freshwater kit for a saltwater setup (brackish would be included then). Just my thoughts though
Nautilus291
10-23-2007, 10:58 PM
Im not sure about the brackish waters but from my experience no matter how big of water changes I did It seemed like the ammonia would just go back up the next day. Its a part of cycling a tank. Until the ben bacteria grow in the tank the ammonia will just keep accumulating in the tank. The only thing you can do is keep doing water changes.
Kaga's Kritters
10-23-2007, 11:04 PM
the tank has been cycled for over a year now, so its not cycling. there is no reason it should be cycling, i didnt remove any of the beneficial bacteria.

i was wondering if i would have to get a special test kit for it since it is brackish.....maybe that is the prob.
zackish
10-23-2007, 11:05 PM
Nope, the reagnants are the same but the colors are different. They have actual cards for saltwater results and such. For ammonia I am guessing you are getting a lighter yellow color showing up?
Nautilus291
10-23-2007, 11:06 PM
sorry about that. I would say that You are getting false readings from your test kit because of the salt then.
Kaga's Kritters
10-23-2007, 11:26 PM
Nope, the reagnants are the same but the colors are different. They have actual cards for saltwater results and such. For ammonia I am guessing you are getting a lighter yellow color showing up?

yea i am getting a light yellow. for freshwater that would be a reading of 0.5 - 1.0
Kaga's Kritters
10-23-2007, 11:28 PM
oh yea, my nitrate test kit came with 2 cards, fresh and salt....but the ammonia only came with the freshwater one.
stunner
10-25-2007, 01:41 AM
I stand corrected then. Didn't know they were simply different colour scales. Thanks!