Need some help - ammonia up and have small amt of nitrite too!

[ThatsDeep!]

Our 55 gal tank conditions had been pretty pristine - had LFS double check my numbers. This a.m. ammonia showing as well as nitrite and nitrate. We did a 10% water change but I cannot find our sea hare [though that seems to be a common tale] and in addition, husband added anemone recently as well as a small hammer coral.

Refugium with Chaeto, additional filter and carbon, overflow w/ filter star polyps staying closed but I made frags from them yesterday. Fish do not seem distressed - yet.

LFS open at noon so not sure what else can be done at this time. Appreciate any thoughts on the matter. Pretty freaked that we might lose tank!

J

 

[Munch]

I'd do another water change, and keep an eye on params. How's the nem doing? If it's goes, it'll quickly pollute your tank.

And post all your params, I find it interesting what some places think is "normal".

 

[High Plains Reefer]

how much ammonia? typically I dose nite out 2 daily till ammonia level drops then do a w/c

 

[ThatsDeep!]

I just did a post water change test. Now ammonia is .25 ppm and nitrite is the same. Nitrate at 40 ppm. hammer and anenome look good. Thought we might add a HOB that we have for added filtration right now. Star polyps look bad but I think that was due to my second only frag attempt.

Concern about the nitrate at 40 ppm, but will keep checking in.

Oh, and fish - valentini puffer, mandarin goby, six line wrasse and fire angel [hosting well in anem] all seem fine.

 

[Munch]

How long has the tank been running?

 

[ThatsDeep!]

3 months. Went through the diatom die off and kept good numbers through our additions of livestock. But yep, still in the baby phase.

 

[Munch]

Really too soon for that nem... 6 months would be better, and closer to 1 year woulda been ideal.

Are you 100% sure you fully cycled? If you've had nothing die off, then something is causing your ammonia and nitrite/nitrate spike, and could be you never cycled.

How long after you setup your tank did you put your first coral/fish in?

How many fish are in there currently?

 

[ThatsDeep!]

We used damsels to start the cycle [rentals, and they did ok til we added live sand to the refug] We started w 2 HOB filters to keep running while we got refug in place. Damsels died pretty quickly and LFS best guess was that there was some bad bacteria in the sand. Waited 4 weeks w/ only live rock and refug running. Added puffer after our ammonia and nitrite were 0 and nitrate 5ppm and we had had a full on diatom bloom and it had begun to go away. Things we have added since [damned embarassing] but in hindsight too much. Wrasse, Mandarin Goby, Fire Clown, some frags of polyps, and then H gets a derasa clam. I have been saying we need to stop but he thought fire clown was trying to find a place to host and he was right. he brought home the anem and it has been in heaven. I added CUC during this time as we were getting green algae but kept it small - a few crabs and zebra snail. Emerald crab. Water stayed fine throughout. Then last night he brought home the hammer coral [small but with promise of no more] All was well last night then this a.m. - ammonia. Still have some algae for CUC to eat. So, we are pretty much idiots I am thinking....

 

[CRW Reef]

40ppm of Nitrates is really really high! The sea hare prob died from the high nitrates as they do not tolerate high nitrates well at all. The dead or missing sea hare is most likely the cause of an ammonia spike assuming its the only thing missing in the tank. I would work on daily water changes of 20%, make sure the carbon is running for a few more days and check to see if you can find any traces of the sea hare and remove them.

Pending your attachment to the nem and the cost you paid, you might want to either hold in a separate holding/qt tank or take it back to a store while you get your levels back down to zeros (small amount of nitrates acceptable 2ppm or less for sure).

 

[Munch]

Definitely too fast too soon. Probably need to get others to chime into how to move forward. My initial recommendation, is find a home for the Mandarin, unless he's eating flake or brine, he'll soon be dead, you will not have a pod population to support him.

I'd consider adding Stability from Seachem.

http://www.seachem.com/Products/product_pages/Stability.html

Given you're likely still cycling, it'll help. You're going to need to stay ontop of water changes, which is dicey because you need to build up the proper good bacteria, while also removing enough ammonia to keep your livestock alive.

I suspect you're going to have some casualties along the way, just hope it's not a slippery slope to a full on crash.

Clams are partial to pristine water conditions, which you do not have. Nems need stable water conditions, which you will likely not have as well.

Hopefully it all works out.

 

[Munch]

Also, was your sand new or used?

 

[ThatsDeep!]

Thanks all. We are going to get moving on this - I will be back in touch after we see what we can get to safe water and have LFS re-check my numbers. Will start on add'l water changes as well as look into product you mentioned.

Really appreciate your taking time for us.

 

[Balz3352]

Might see if you can buy some mature live rock also.... It will help with the bacteria and in the future support a pod population for the mandarin... You're going to need lots of live rock for that..

 

[Balz3352]

You also should use prime by seachem. I used it when my tank went through a mini crash and someone on here suggested using it. It detoxifies the ammonia so it's not as harmful to your inhibitants. Look it up

 

[zombie]

Thanks all. We are going to get moving on this - I will be back in touch after we see what we can get to safe water and have LFS re-check my numbers. Will start on add'l water changes as well as look into product you mentioned.

Really appreciate your taking time for us.

Best piece of advice I can give you. GET YOU OWN TEST KIT. I cannot stress that enough. Relying on a LFS to test your water is just asking for trouble. Having them double check a reading from time to time is useful and verifys that your test kits are still working properly. Also are you using strictly RODI water for topoff and water changes? If not, a nem is not suitable for your tank and could be the cause behind the dead sea hare (if its not just missing) as there is often 4 - 20 ppm of nitrate in tap water.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life, and you can PROVE it mathematically.

 

[ThatsDeep!]

The saga of our tank continues...

Went to LFS and had water tested. They got .5 ammonia, .25 nitrite and 15ppm on nitrate. I had 50 ppm on nitrate, but after trying 3 different testing kits at 2 different stores, I am pretty sure there is a problem with mine which is good news if my reading was not that high. Asked about Stability chem and told that SmartStart might be better [had some of this as we used it at the beginning though told it was not an instant tank as it states]. Got carbon filter material and put in refug and HOB for 2 weeks. Will continue water changes and close monitoring.

We have options to move some of the poor creatures tomorrow especially anem and goby but will start with H20 quality and new nitrate test kit.

Still not finding sea hare but both of us are pretty much glued to the tank. I have threatened to duct tape myself to tank top if H tries to bring anything new in during the next 3 months.

 

[ThatsDeep!]

Thanks balz. I will check into that. I had hoped there was something that would buy us some time here. Actually, we have mostly nice live rock with all kinds of things already growing on it - worked hard to find good stuff and get stores to part with some of it. I am glad to know that may help the mandarin.

The water change seems to have helped and we will continue that. Also continuing to look for sea hare...

Thanks to everyone who took time to offer help with this!

 

[ThatsDeep!]

Found the sea hare! She is alive but sluggish [ sorry]. Still keeping a close eye on her and - sorry Munch I did not answer your question - the sand was new. And to Zombie - we have a test kit, but looks like it is not the greatest.

Really appreciate the input today and hope I don't have bad news tomorrow.

 

[zombie]

Found the sea hare! She is alive but sluggish [ sorry]. Still keeping a close eye on her and - sorry Munch I did not answer your question - the sand was new. And to Zombie - we have a test kit, but looks like it is not the greatest.

Really appreciate the input today and hope I don't have bad news tomorrow.

Ok. Kinda skimmed over it and realized you were gonna gave a LFS double check your readings instead of them doing all of the readings. Definately check your water source for nitrate anyway and cut your feedings down to almost nothing.

You might be an engineer if...You have no life, and you can PROVE it mathematically.

 

[charleshardy5]

A good idea to help support your mandarin would be to seed your tank with pods. Im sure there are numerous people in this community who can hook you up right. I have a mandarin and a good pod population to boot but when I got him I still dumped some more pods in the system hust to make sure. Mandarins are constantly eating. Keep up on those water changes and you should eventually be able to get yiur nitrates under control. I had a pretty huge spike once and did daily changes to get mine back down. I dont like dumping chemicals into my system if I dont have to. Water changes are a tanks best friend. Hang in there and you can get it under control and potentially not have to get rid of them nem either. Just keep a close eye on him to make sure he doesn't bite the farm on you and you should be good!