Honeyman
New Member
[h=3]Ammonia & Phosphate spike after adding fish[/h]
Hi There, first time reef setup and everything was going well until i added fish.
A bit of history. Bought a complete 30gal setup from someone who was getting out of it. Basically everything but fish. It has a HOB refugium, skimmer & eheimm cannister.
Was set up around labour day to cycle the tank, and i added additional dead live rock that I had in storage. I also added used live sand from a local dealer who was down sizing. I added alot of rock as I want to transfer everything to a 65 gal.
Tank had been cycling well, algae was turning to diatoms. I was adding snails and hermits to help it along. A month ago added some peppermint shrimp. Everything going according to plan, and taking my time. Using RO water from the start.
Last week, checked levels, Ammonia at 0, Phosphates unreadable. So I added 2 clowns and a fan that I got on special.
Past 3 days, algae has bloomed and Ammonia has increased to .5 mg/l and phosphate to .25 mg/l even with a 20% water change. Skimmer was cranked to maximum and has to be emptied and cleaned every second day.
I know their is a spike after adding new stock, but how long should it last and at what point should I intervene?
Hi There, first time reef setup and everything was going well until i added fish.
A bit of history. Bought a complete 30gal setup from someone who was getting out of it. Basically everything but fish. It has a HOB refugium, skimmer & eheimm cannister.
Was set up around labour day to cycle the tank, and i added additional dead live rock that I had in storage. I also added used live sand from a local dealer who was down sizing. I added alot of rock as I want to transfer everything to a 65 gal.
Tank had been cycling well, algae was turning to diatoms. I was adding snails and hermits to help it along. A month ago added some peppermint shrimp. Everything going according to plan, and taking my time. Using RO water from the start.
Last week, checked levels, Ammonia at 0, Phosphates unreadable. So I added 2 clowns and a fan that I got on special.
Past 3 days, algae has bloomed and Ammonia has increased to .5 mg/l and phosphate to .25 mg/l even with a 20% water change. Skimmer was cranked to maximum and has to be emptied and cleaned every second day.
I know their is a spike after adding new stock, but how long should it last and at what point should I intervene?
