:eek2: Your AMMONIA is 8.0 :eek1:
"Ammonia (NH3) is excreted by all animals and some other aquarium inhabitants. Unfortunately, it is very toxic to all animals, although it is not toxic to certain other organisms, such as some species of macroalgae that readily consume it. Fish are not, however, the only animals that ammonia harms, and even some algae, such as the phytoplankton Nephroselmis pyriformis, are harmed by less than 0.1 ppm ammonia.15
In an established reef aquarium, the ammonia produced is usually taken up rapidly. Macroalgae use it to make proteins, DNA, and other biochemicals that contain nitrogen. Bacteria also take it up and convert it to nitrite, nitrate, and nitrogen gas (the famous "nitrogen cycle"). All of these compounds are much less toxic than ammonia (at least to fish), so the ammonia waste is rapidly "detoxified" under normal conditions.
Under some conditions, however, ammonia may be a concern. During the initial setup of a reef aquarium, or when new live rock or sand is added, an abundance of ammonia may be produced that the available mechanisms cannot detoxify quickly enough. In these circumstances, fish are at great risk. Ammonia levels as low as 0.2 ppm can be dangerous to fish.16 In such instances, the fish and invertebrates should be removed to cleaner water, or the aquarium treated with an ammonia-binding product such as Amquel.
Many aquarists are confused by the difference between ammonia and a form of it that is believed to be less toxic: ammonium. These two forms interconvert very rapidly (many times per second), so for many purposes they are not distinct chemicals. They are related by the acid base reaction shown below:
NH3 + H+ ßàNH4+
Ammonia + hydrogen ion (acid) ßàammonium ion
The only reason that ammonium is thought to be less toxic than ammonia is that, being a charged molecule, it crosses the fishes' gills and enters their bloodstream with more difficulty than does ammonia, which readily passes across the gill membranes and rapidly enters the blood.
In aquaria with higher pH levels, which contain less H+, more of the total ammonia will be in the NH3 form. Consequently, the toxicity of a solution with a fixed total ammonia concentration rises as pH rises. This is important in such areas as fish transport, where ammonia can build to toxic levels.
I will discuss issues concerning ammonia in greater detail in a future column."
~ Randy Farley Holmes' Article
He's still a freshmen in High School 
