Seachem Ammonia Alert Impressions.

"Hmm, the Ammonia Alert looks different today... Was it this slightly green hue of yellow before? [later that day] It's still looking different. Maybe it's the light? Maybe it's just getting a bit old? Should I buy a new one? It's been over a year... Wait. There is no flow. The filter isn't working!"

Seachem Ammonia Alert is a little colour indicator that permanently resides in your tank and will detect ammonia. It will go on without you having to change it for around a year. It reminds me of the Seneye slides and I suspect it might be based on similar technology.

I didn't call this a review as I didn't really test the Alert by dipping it in amonnia rich water, for example. The only time when it changed colour for me was when the filter broke down and, to be honest, I ignored it for a bit. My tank was largely understocked at the time so the ammonia levels didn't go up enough to trigger a big colour change. I thought it was just a fluke at first.

Personally, I wouldn't use it as the sole source of information about ammonia levels, but it's a very good indicator to glance at as you're walking past your tank or during feeding time.

It has some pretty bad reviews on Amazon, but I suspect that's because it detects ammonia only, and the liquid tests usually detect ammonium+ammonia, so the results can vary between the two tests.

From the producer's website:
"The Ammonia Alert is designed to change color in the presence of free (gaseous) ammonia, not ammonium (ionized ammonia) which is harmless to fish and other aquatic life. The longer it is left in a particular body of water/aquarium, the more sensitive it becomes to that water. Most conventional test kits test total ammonia which is a combination of free ammonia + ammonium = total ammonia."

I can definitely recommend this product as an additional test that will give you an early warning in case something goes wrong. It does work and it did save my fish as I was not going to test the water at all on the day my filter broke down.

I know a lot of people touch their tanks as they pass them. This will alert to any temperature changes (heater turned off/broken, heater malfunctioning in the on position). Looking at an ammonia alert in addition is a good idea.