Ammonia Spike

[trontavius]

new to to saltwater reef tank. Tank is 7 months. 65 gal waterbed. Mainly LPS corals a few SPS. 2 clowns, mimic tang, marine betta, pistol shrimp with small watchman, cleaner shrimp, and cuc.
had my water tested a couple weeks ago and had a big ammonia spike, been doing water changes and had it tested again and even higher. Nothing has died. water is clear. snails all accounted for. fish active and hungry as always. attached are pic of water test read out and pic of the tank.

 

[unchaotic]

Pics didn't post, so start with that.

Any other info you can provide will be helpful. Other parameters (including Nitrite and Nitrate), type of filtration, any nutrient export besides water changes, how big of water changes are you doing, what do you feed and how much?

Also, you had your water tested; like you sent in an ICP test, your LFS tested it for your, or someone at Petco dipped a test strip in it? Do you have any testing kits yourself?

I know this seems like a lot of questions but that's kind of how it works around here. If you want a truly helpful answer you have to help eliminate the variables.

 

[trontavius]

Pics didn't post, so start with that.

Any other info you can provide will be helpful. Other parameters (including Nitrite and Nitrate), type of filtration, any nutrient export besides water changes, how big of water changes are you doing, what do you feed and how much?

Also, you had your water tested; like you sent in an ICP test, your LFS tested it for your, or someone at Petco dipped a test strip in it? Do you have any testing kits yourself?

I know this seems like a lot of questions but that's kind of how it works around here. If you want a truly helpful answer you have to help eliminate the variables.

Temp is 77.5 test results are first pic. Know my my ph is a little low too. Having to up dosing.
do a 20% water change about every 7-10 days

 

[trontavius]

Pics didn't post, so start with that.

Any other info you can provide will be helpful. Other parameters (including Nitrite and Nitrate), type of filtration, any nutrient export besides water changes, how big of water changes are you doing, what do you feed and how much?

Also, you had your water tested; like you sent in an ICP test, your LFS tested it for your, or someone at Petco dipped a test strip in it? Do you have any testing kits yourself?

I know this seems like a lot of questions but that's kind of how it works around here. If you want a truly helpful answer you have to help eliminate the variables.

Thank you for your help. Very much appreciated.

 

[BostonReefer300]

I've never used that monitor/tester, so I can't comment on its performance. That being said, a small ammonia reading in an established tank is usually nothing to worry about and is likely a false reading. Your biofilter in that tank should consume any ammonia very quickly. You'd normally only need to worry about ammonia if you had a big equipment failure, long power outage, or if something big died. If nothing like that happened, I wouldn't worry about it unless your tank inhabitants are showing significant stress. HTH

 

[Spare time]

2 things don't make sense


1. 1.6ppm would be killing your fish or else they should be in extreme stress. I assume the test is in ppm. If the fish seem fine, are not breathing heavily, acting strangely, etc., that would be the first sign to make me doubt the test.


2. You have no nitrite showing up. A big spike in ammonia should logically be followed by a big spike in nitrite as nitrite is processes slower, and the two bacteria species that process ammonia and nitrite should be in a sort of equilibrium where if one is getting their workload increased rapidly, the other should too.

 

[trontavius]

2 things don't make sense


1. 1.6ppm would be killing your fish or else they should be in extreme stress. I assume the test is in ppm. If the fish seem fine, are not breathing heavily, acting strangely, etc., that would be the first sign to make me doubt the test.


2. You have no nitrite showing up. A big spike in ammonia should logically be followed by a big spike in nitrite as nitrite is processes slower, and the two bacteria species that process ammonia and nitrite should be in a sort of equilibrium where if one is getting their workload increased rapidly, the other should too.

Thought it was strange too. Forgot to mention I have two sea urchins. All inverts and verts seem to be acting and eating normally.

 

[Dan_P]

2 things don't make sense


1. 1.6ppm would be killing your fish or else they should be in extreme stress. I assume the test is in ppm. If the fish seem fine, are not breathing heavily, acting strangely, etc., that would be the first sign to make me doubt the test.


2. You have no nitrite showing up. A big spike in ammonia should logically be followed by a big spike in nitrite as nitrite is processes slower, and the two bacteria species that process ammonia and nitrite should be in a sort of equilibrium where if one is getting their workload increased rapidly, the other should too.

At 1.6 ppm total ammonia, free ammonia is 0.05 ppm. A concern but maybe not lethal.

Like you, I would like to hear more details about the ammonia test.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Not to knock API although I have Zero confidence in them- Spin unit I believe is also API product.
Are you able to get one more test at a trusted LFS that does not use API or spin unit to have them test and see what they come up with ?
Im suspecting false readings

 

[lapin]

bad reading is my guess too
At 7 months your tank can process a lot of ammonia in a short period of time

 

[trontavius]

Not to knock API although I have Zero confidence in them- Spin unit I believe is also API product.
Are you able to get one more test at a trusted LFS that does not use API or spin unit to have them test and see what they come up with ?
Im suspecting false readings

Taking a water sample in tomorrow. Will let everyone know. Thank you for your imput.

 

[BostonReefer300]

FWIW, the only time I tested my DT tank for ammonia was when I had to do a total tank tear-down and reboot---and that was just monitoring it while it stewed in the dark for weeks. I didn't even test ammonia when I started my DT tank originally. Poured appropriate amount of bottled bac in, called it instantly cycled, and went on with life!

 

[trontavius]

FWIW, the only time I tested my DT tank for ammonia was when I had to do a total tank tear-down and reboot---and that was just monitoring it while it stewed in the dark for weeks. I didn't even test ammonia when I started my DT tank originally. Poured appropriate amount of bottled bac in, called it instantly cycled, and went on with life!

Took water sample into lfs. Water tested fine no ammonia. Celebrated by bringing home a long nose butterfly.

 

[ying yang]

Took water sample into lfs. Water tested fine no ammonia. Celebrated by bringing home a long nose butterfly.

Very beautiful unusual looking fish.
Don't keep us hanging, share some pics please ^_^

 

[trontavius]

Very beautiful unusual looking fish.
Don't keep us hanging, share some pics please ^_^

 

[ying yang]

Thanks ,lovely fish ,everything going OK with feeding it ?

 

[trontavius]

Thanks ,lovely fish ,everything going OK with feeding it ?

Very active eater with the frozen foods.