Low ammonia level readings

[achilles86]

Hi, I'm new to reef central although I've had my tank for quite a few years, 8 to be exact. I started with a 55g, 4 years ago I switched it out to a shallow reef and four weeks ago, but due to leaks in two separate areas of the tank, I had to replace to a 75g which I had still in its box. I used basically everything I had in the tank, except for the substrate, which I replace from crush coral to a sand bed. Added more live rock that literally went from one tank to mine. All the fish seemed to love it and the corals as well. I got a small episode of diatom but it's already going away. Also a bit of cyano, but it doesn't bother me since the cleaning crew is doing a very good job.

I got a little excited and have been adding fish since I was low on stock. Now, I tested parameters this past Sunday and all the parameters were good except for Ammonia, which shows I'd say .15 and Phosphates which is also near zero. I don't mind low levels of phosphates but the ammonia get's me cranky because before the upgrade the test (API) would be so yellow. When doing the tank replacement, I added ATM's Colony treatment. I was feeding the fish two times a day, I'm moving down to once a day, to see if it makes any changes. Although the fish look better than ever and very active. Maybe the tank is adjusting to the change and stock level? Any recommendations? Not doing high percentage water changes until the system settles down a bit. The overall system is around 110 gallons, since I use a 55g as a sump. Thanks in advance!

*NOTE* Not all the new fish where brought into tank at the same time, two weeks in between.

Stock fish with their current size:
2- Clownfish
3- Green Chromis S
1- Yellow Tang M/L
1- Blue Tang S/M
1- Yellow eye Tang S/M
1- Naso Tang L - New
1- Yellow Fox Face S - New
1- Bangai Cardenal S - New
1- Royal Grama M
1- Stigmata Blenny S - New
1- Orange Spot Goby S - New
1- Heniochus Diphreutes M - New

[mcgyvr]

Its fairly normal for test kits to show some level of ammonia when its not really a problem or not really there.. But ammonia is basically always present its just quickly converted to less toxic forms..
aka.. testing error basically or not something to really worry about..

Are you seeing any problems or just assuming their is one?
Sometimes more information is not a good thing as it just causes us to freak out when we really don't need to be...
Ignorance is bliss holds true here many times..

[achilles86]

Thanks for the reply. Honestly I see everything running smooth in the tank. Fish are actually playing since they have more space now, since the last tank was very shallow. I just noticed the ammonia levels because since the tank is two hours away in my other house. Every weekend I go down and make a test and add them to a log to keep track of any drastic changes. My mother feeds the fish during the week, but I get anxious since she says they always look hungry, worried she might overfeed...lol But I explained to her the fish will always look at you in a feed me kinda of way.

[thegrun]

That's a lot of fish for your sized tank and arguably none of the Tangs should be kept in an aquarium as small as yours, certainly not the Blue Tang, Naso Tang Yellow or the Fox Face unless it is a One Spot Fox Face. Those fish are all open water swimmers that need a much larger tank than yours. In addition they are messy eaters that produce a lot of waste.

[achilles86]

Well, they're actually not that big in size, the rockscape is relatively low, so they have quite the space in the tank to swim around. Near future I plan to upgrade to a bigger tank, that is if I can retire in 5 years.