Added first fish ammonia bumped up

[walkamile]

Hey all.. Im new to saltwater have a few years with fw tanks.

Background story..
Decided to try salwater.. got a waterbox 40.1 from lfs. Ran it for 30 days with about 30 lbs of dry rock. It cycled. Days 25 to 30 ammonia =0 nitrate = 0. Nitrates 5-10. Ph 8.4. Did a 5 gallon water change. Specific gravity is 34. Day 31 I drip acclimated 2 aquacultured juvenile clownfish. They are about an inch long each.

Today is day 35 and they show no signs of distress and they are getting along well. Tested water today. Ph is down to 8.2 not sure why. Ammonia is closer to .25 on api test kit than 0. Nitrites are creeping up from 0 to the next level on api test. Nitrates still around 5-10.

The question.
It looks like this bump up is from the new bioload. Should i take immediate action to lower ammonia or is this normal and let the cycle catch up? I am suprised the levels bumped up that much.

Side question. The clowns dont seem much interested in the marine flake i am offering. They will take a few nibbles and thats all. I know it takes a bit for them to feel at home. Somehow i figured since they we aquacultured from LA.. they would be used to feeding time = be excited and chow time. Anybody have advise on what LA feeds their stock or advice on if i should just chill out and let them settle in.

Thanks all.

 

[Cyked1]

How much time between adding the fish and testing ammonia? Did you test before adding the fish? Have you tested since the test came out .25?

 

[walkamile]

0 before fish.. 4 days after fish added 0.25 that was this morn. Fish seem fine. Plan to t

 

[Cyked1]

Plan to test again? As I understand the bac in the tank should be eating up the ammonia in ~<24 hours. Gonna need someone more knowledgeable than me to chime in here...

 

[walkamile]

Plan to test again tonight after work

 

[Cyked1]

My thinking would be that after you cycle, if you dose ammonia it will take ~24 hours to convert ans see 0ppm on ammonia test. When you are cycled the bac continually convert ammonia in the system to nitrites then nitrates on a more or less ongoing basis. i.e. you won't see ammonia unless you have too much of a bio load for the bac to ramp up and convert it.

Can anyone confirm if that is accurate or if I'm talking out my butt?

 

[Jesterrace]

First thing you need to do is find another test kit. API is notorious for false positives. Test with something like Salifert, Red Sea, etc. If you get ammonia with that then get some prime into the tank ASAP.