Ammonia-Nitrite-Nitrate problems

[Jason Jones]

If you are used to Red Sea kits you can see how bad the tests were. Ammonia was last test nitrite was this one.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

How are you stabizing it enough to prevent livestock loss?

Well, I did have livestock loss. I can tell you what I did though, I used things from a friends tank like chaeto and some rock and ceramic rings. I also dosed microbacter7 for 2 weeks. I really just had to let it do it’s thing and I was lucky I didn’t lose everything.

 

[Brew12]

This seemed to work for about a week an them my longfin and watanabe were dead one morning.

For starters don't us prime.

I disagree about not using Prime. I absolutely recommend using Prime if you have livestock in a tank that is showing ammonia above 0.25. Prime will bind the ammonia and prevent it from harming fish. Bacteria can still consume it while bound.

Were you adding Prime at least every 3 days? Prime needs to be added every 72 hours while ammonia is showing to be effective. If you only added it once then it wouldn't have been effective a week later.

I use a good amount of balance as she seems to chug PH

Stop worrying about pH. The only factors impacting pH are your systems alkalinity and the CO2 content of your water. If you do have low pH the safest way to address it is by reducing CO2, not adding buffers.

Also, don't worry about nitrite. It isn't harmful in a reef tank. Your nitrates are also fine. They are no where near high enough to cause health issues with fish.

I have also started to develop a lot of algae on my glass.

This isn't a bad thing. Algae will directly consume ammonia which will help your livestock as your tank cycles.

 

[Crabs McJones]

I disagree about not using Prime. I absolutely recommend using Prime if you have livestock in a tank that is showing ammonia above 0.25. Prime will bind the ammonia and prevent it from harming fish. Bacteria can still consume it while bound.

Were you adding Prime at least every 3 days? Prime needs to be added every 72 hours while ammonia is showing to be effective. If you only added it once then it wouldn't have been effective a week later.



Stop worrying about pH. The only factors impacting pH are your systems alkalinity and the CO2 content of your water. If you do have low pH the safest way to address it is by reducing CO2, not adding buffers.

Also, don't worry about nitrite. It isn't harmful in a reef tank. Your nitrates are also fine. They are no where near high enough to cause health issues with fish.


This isn't a bad thing. Algae will directly consume ammonia which will help your livestock as your tank cycles.

But if his tank is recycling wouldn't using prime stop or slow down the cycle? Or is it ok to still use?

 

[Brew12]

But if his tank is recycling wouldn't using prime stop or slow down the cycle? Or is it ok to still use?

Its fine to use. The way Prime binds ammonia has no impact on the ability of bacteria to break it down.

 

[Jason Jones]

Thank you,
I have been dosing 4ml prime every other day for about two weeks.
I did try and skip once and saw ammonia shoot up so I started doing consistently.

Am I reading corr3ct that you recommend adding the bacteria and dosing prime as the tank Re-cycles?

 

[Brew12]

Thank you,
I have been dosing 4ml prime every other day for about two weeks.
I did try and skip once and saw ammonia shoot up so I started doing consistently.

Am I reading corr3ct that you recommend adding the bacteria and dosing prime as the tank Re-cycles?

Great, sounds like you are using Prime correctly then. That may be the only reason you haven't lost all your fish.

I am a big fan of the bacteria in a bottle products. BioSpira is my preferred one since I can get it locally.

I put this together awhile ago. If possible, I would go with one of the Live Bacteria products from my list.
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/ammonia-control-in-a-hospital-tank.296119/#post-3620230

 

[Jason Jones]

Thank you, I am on my way to pick up some biospira now.
Should I keep adding stability for the inert bacteria as well or hold off on that.

Also, thank you all very much for helping so quickly.

 

[Brew12]

Thank you, I am on my way to pick up some biospira now.
Should I keep adding stability for the inert bacteria as well or hold off on that.

Also, thank you all very much for helping so quickly.

It's up to you if you want to keep adding the Stability. It won't hurt anything if you do. It will help, just not as quickly as something like Biospira.

And glad to help!