Ammonia and ID plz

[DLreef]

Well I was using API for my testing but the ammonia test kept giving wrong readings so I bought a Seachem. I got 0 free ammonia and 0.3 total? if im correct free is the harmful one? And total is harmless?

Also I just noticed these things growing. I haven't added anything for over a year now accept a zoa that was DOA. Any idea what they are?

[mcgyvr]

That tank is messed up.. Algae much.. :)
Pic isn't really clear either.. Could be zoas.. Hard to tell.

IMO There is no need to monitor for ammonia or worry about it after a tank has cycled and yours clearly has a while back..

Hopefully you are monitoring nitrates/phosphates though cause I'm sure they are elevated and need to be corrected.. Forget ammonia though

[CStrickland]

It sounds like your nitrogen cycle is set, I wouldn't worry about ammonia unless you have a reason to think things have gotten out of whack, like fish breathing heavy or a critter goes missing. Total ammonia is the combo of free (toxic) ammonia NH3 and ammonium NH4+ which is not dangerous.

It looks like you are well into your uglies, phosphate tests wont give you the whole picture because the phos is inside the plants and rocks and sand where the water test can't see it. Do you have a solid maintenance plan?

I can't see much from the pic, but you might want to Google majano anemone and compare pics, they can look kiiinda like that and are a pest.

[DLreef]

I know there is hair algae everywhere :uhoh3::uhoh2: probably because I have abused the water and have a little higher nitrates then should. But hoping to get back down to near 0 this coming week

Do hermits eat hair algae?

[CStrickland]

What are your nitrates at?
Hermits will pick at it but I don't think they're going to get rid of that. it's better if you can pull it off and siphon out the bits. A soft toothbrush can scrub it off the rocks too but it's a little harder catch the pieces if you're doing it in the tank. This has the benefit of getting the nutrients out of the water instead of just changing them from in-a-plant to in-a-hermit-poop

[DLreef]

a bit over 20 last I checked

[CStrickland]

There's a lot of tanks w/ 20 ppm nitrates that don't have algae like that. But, it's probably another thread if you want to work on it. Sounds like you are making some changes to bring nutrients down, so hopefully it will knock off on its own.
At least you don't have to worry about the ammonium ;)

[DLreef]

A couple of weeks ago I had 40+ from some old frozen food that I was feeding, so I switched off that and since then I have been able to get it down to 20. Im just happy most of my snails survived :) Nerites all dies though :(