- Seachem sensor technology
- Continuously monitors ammonia
- No tests, no strips
- Marine and freshwater
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Description
Ammonia Alert® is an innovative color device for continuously detecting and monitoring toxic free ammonia. A sensor changes reversibly from yellow to green to blue, relative to the ammonia concentration. No test kits, chemicals, or procedures are needed. The device detects less than 0.05 mg/L (ppm) free ammonia and alerts you to the #1 killer before any sign of stress. It lasts over a year. Marine or freshwater use.
In the absence of free ammonia the unit will assume a yellow or faint yellow-green color. It is normal for the dry sensor to have a greenish hue. It may take up to a few days for a dry sensor to equilibrate with the water. No sampling of water, chemicals, or test procedures are required. The presence of the free ammonia is detectable continuously with a response time of about 15 minutes. Response to decreasing ammonia is slower, requiring about 4 hours to go from TOXIC to SAFE on removal of ammonia.
Ammonia Alert® lasts over 9 times as long as competing products (over a year compared to 4-6 weeks). Ammonia Alert® is also almost half the size of competing products (1.5″ x 2.5″). It’s small, clear, and unobtrusive, so it won’t detract from the view of your aquarium.
Interpretation
As little as 0.02 mg/L of free ammonia will produce a greenish hue on the detector surface. This corresponds to a total ammonia (both ionized and free ammonia) of 0.25 mg/L in marine water at pH 8.3. In freshwater at pH 7.0, this corresponds to 3.6 mg/L total ammonia. Free ammonia is much more toxic than ionized ammonia. As free ammonia, the ALERT color corresponds to about 0.05 mg/L, ALARM to about 0.2 mg/L, and TOXIC to about 0.5 mg/L. The ALERT concentration is tolerated for several days, ALARM for a few days, and TOXIC is rapidly harmful. For emergency ammonia removal, treat with AmGuard™. This product is not recommended for use at acid pH.
Care
No care is required beyond removing algae with a clean, soft material. Avoid touching the sensor with fingers, since skin oils can damage it. Do not use bleach, soap, detergents or hard objects to clean the sensor. Some dye medications may discolor the sensor. Sensitivity improves with age, provided the unit is not allowed to dry out, however, drying does not permanently impair the unit. For maximum sensitivity, the unit should be read under natural daylight or daylight simulating light. Red enhancing light minimizes green and blue hues, decreasing the apparent sensitivity of the unit. The response of the unit may be checked by holding it briefly over the mouth of an ammonia bottle: color should develop rapidly.
Seachem’s philosophy is that the knowledgeable hobbyist makes the best customer. This is reflected in solid and reliable customer education and support as well as products proven in science and performance. While Seachem has grown rapidly into a national and international firm, it retains the culture of a small company and is readily available to its customers.
For over 40 years, Seachem has been a company rooted in sound science. Our experience in the hobby and an educated staff of chemists and biologists are part of the package when you purchase Seachem products. Seachem remains as one of the few surviving independent and privately owned pet care companies. Seachem is owned and operated by hobbyists. All of our employees are hobbyists who maintain aquariums at home and at the office. Seachem itself was started because one such passionate hobbyist - Dr. Leo G. Morin (Founder) - recognized that the available solutions to aquarists' problems were wanting. This resulted in Seachem’s very first product: Cupraplex™ (today known as Cupramine™). Over thirty years later, Seachem is still approaching old problems in a new way.
Seachem has been in business over 40 years and is now sold
in over 60 countries worldwide.
Innovation means approaching old problems in a new way. Seachem doesn’t simply repackage old ideas, nor do we package new ideas that require the suspension of fundamental physical or chemical principles. We offer truly innovative solutions that work better than competing products and save money through increased efficiency and concentration. Seachem products have been and continue to be based on sound science. They now cover the full spectrum of aquarium requirements in freshwater, seawater, reefs, and ponds as well as herpetological and avian husbandry. They include buffers, conditioners, filtration media, medications, and test kits. The JurassiPet® line includes foods, nutritive supplements, and products for enclosure maintenance and parasite control. Most of Seachem’s products are totally unique and specific to Seachem. With our premium line, aquavitro®, our goal is to have a line that is an outlet for rapid response to the advent of new technologies and information as they arise, something we couldn’t do with the very well established Seachem line. We’ve distilled the essential components of reef keeping and plant keeping into a no compromises, rigorously optimized product line, and added conditioners and filtration that outperform the already high standards we've set with the Seachem line. We’re committed to maintaining that optimization.
