Ammonia high

[Banisandhu111]

Hi.. I have 10mnths old fowlr tank.. I just installed vertex protein skimmer about 2 wks ago.. But after installing protein skimmer my ammonia nd nitrate spike up nd killed my invertebrates.. I always do 10 gallon water change every week.. Rt nw levels r
Ammonia 0.50
Nitrate 5.00
Ph 8.2
Nitrite 0
Salinity 1.026

 

[redfishbluefish]

This is bizarre??? A 10 month old established tank has an ammonia spike of 0.5?? Have you done anything else? Like add more rock? Or add any additives or medications to the tank?

To take a step back....it's not the Nitrate that's a problem...and I can't see your new skimmer causing the problem. That high ammonia is what caused all the deaths. I'm scratching my head on this one.

Oh, and I see this is your first post.....WELCOME to R2R. Let's see if we can figure this out......Oh [HASHTAG]#reefsquad[/HASHTAG] we need you!

 

[jsker]

Are all member of the tank present and accounted for? where did you get your live rock? Possible hitchhiker and passed?

 

[Banisandhu111]

Thnx for reply.. I took bio filter out a week ago.. As i was reading forums dat I don't need bio filter with protein skimmer.. All rocks r old.. No medication.. Got new copperband butterfly fish.. Feeding frozen clams

 

[jsker]

Get some active carbon and run it to get the ammonia out. Throw the carbon in a nylon in the filter and the carbon will absorb the ammonia.

 

[jsker]

I kept my bio media in the filter for about 6 months and then pulled out one my system established its bio load with the live rock and sand.

 

[Banisandhu111]

Thanks for help..I m going to put bio media back in filter nd going to add carbon infused media pad wid it..

 

[jsker]

By the way welcome to posting on R2R

 

[Banisandhu111]

Thanks for the replies, and the welcomes. Community here is great (friendly and nice).

 

[kireek]

*Welcome to Reef2Reef @Banisandhu111 !* Is it possible that when you threw out the bio filter you also threw out a bunch of beneficial bacteria.Maybe you stirred up the substrate a bit when you added the skimmer,causing some waste products to be released.I would do a small water change in addition to adding the carbon.Best of luck!

 

[Lab_Adam]

What are your stocking levels? What system volume are you working with and how much live rock do you have?

 

[Banisandhu111]

Thanks kireek..i did 20gallon water change yesterday nd already added carbon filter.. My lfs told me to add some prime everyday

 

[Banisandhu111]

I have 100 gallons tank with 20 gallon sump and 80lb live rock..vertex omega 130 protein skimmer nd live sand.. Stocking list
5 hermit crabs
3 green chromis
2 damsels
3 lyretail anthias
1 mellanarus wrasse
1 lubbock fairy wrasse
1 koran angel
1 coral beauty
1 copperband butterfly fish
1 marron clown
All fishes have small or medium size

 

[Lab_Adam]

Have your ammonia levels tested at your LFS and or buy another ammonia test kit, this doesnt sound right to me.

Edit: Also what inverts did you lose? How are the fish behaving currently?

 

[Banisandhu111]

No.. They don't offer that service even i asked them i ll pay them.. I checked ammonia today it looks like its 0.25ppm but its hard to find difference between 0.25-0.50..i lost all the nassarius snails, fire shrimp, cowry nd turbo snails

 

[Banisandhu111]

I forgot to tell fishes are doing great.. Yesterday butterfly fish was on corner but since morning she is fine too

 

[Lab_Adam]

No problems with fish respiration? I still think your ammonia test is wrong and something else caused the death of your inverts. In my experience inverts are more tolerant to ammonia spike than fish are.(if some disagrees let me know)