Ammonia up

[M46]

I have ammonia spike in my 120g FOWLR I have diatoms as well . Tank is cycled 3months old . I have 5 fishes in . Ammonia 0.2ppm , Nitrite 0.1 ppm , PH 8.0ppm , Nitrate 40ppm . I did 25%WC. What can I do ? What went wrong?

 

[Rico's Reefnecks]

I'd say first make sure test kit is not at fault - do replicate measurements if you haven't yet.
But given that nitrates up too you probably have a source of organics somewhere that has been slowly breaking down and is now overwhelming your biofiltration capacity.

If you have sand, debris buildup can cause this at around this time. See if there's a spot that food and fish poo is settling out in the sand and collecting, and that's your problem spot.

Assuming you have sand, for now, you can increase cleanup crew (nassarius particularly handy with sandbeds) and skim more aggressively. If you have an obvious site of detritus buildup, you can siphon the sand bed but selectively only in part of the suspect areas - if you try to siphon the entire sand bed you will throw all of that crud into the water and can spike the ammonia higher. Then try to solve this by redirecting or adding flow.

If you have filter socks, clean or swap out more frequently - whatever you're doing, cut the time in half.

Finally, some people swear by dosing in a little microbacter 7 in situations like this - brightwell makes one and I'm sure there are others. If you have extra bottled bac from tank cycling you could try that as well. Just keep in mind that any bacteria you add in to eat ammonia/nitrates have to be skimmed out when they bloom - otherwise when their nutrient source is consumed they will die back and decay in your tank, leaving you back where you started.

Good luck!

 

[M46]

I'd say first make sure test kit is not at fault - do replicate measurements if you haven't yet.
But given that nitrates up too you probably have a source of organics somewhere that has been slowly breaking down and is now overwhelming your biofiltration capacity.

If you have sand, debris buildup can cause this at around this time. See if there's a spot that food and fish poo is settling out in the sand and collecting, and that's your problem spot.

Assuming you have sand, for now, you can increase cleanup crew (nassarius particularly handy with sandbeds) and skim more aggressively. If you have an obvious site of detritus buildup, you can siphon the sand bed but selectively only in part of the suspect areas - if you try to siphon the entire sand bed you will throw all of that crud into the water and can spike the ammonia higher. Then try to solve this by redirecting or adding flow.

If you have filter socks, clean or swap out more frequently - whatever you're doing, cut the time in half.

Finally, some people swear by dosing in a little microbacter 7 in situations like this - brightwell makes one and I'm sure there are others. If you have extra bottled bac from tank cycling you could try that as well. Just keep in mind that any bacteria you add in to eat ammonia/nitrates have to be skimmed out when they bloom - otherwise when their nutrient source is consumed they will die back and decay in your tank, leaving you back where you started.

Good luck!

Thank you

 

[mcgullen]

Has your water also become cloudy?

If yes, your diatoms can be dying en masse, spiking your ammonia. Try removing as much diatoms from glass/rocks/substrate as possible, do a water change after and use filter floss/socks/activated carbon to catch as much diatoms as possible and rinse out everything. Then measure ammonia again.

 

[M46]

Has your water also become cloudy?

If yes, your diatoms can be dying en masse, spiking your ammonia. Try removing as much diatoms from glass/rocks/substrate as possible, do a water change after and use filter floss/socks/activated carbon to catch as much diatoms as possible and rinse out everything. Then measure ammonia again.

Has your water also become cloudy?

If yes, your diatoms can be dying en masse, spiking your ammonia. Try removing as much diatoms from glass/rocks/substrate as possible, do a water change after and use filter floss/socks/activated carbon to catch as much diatoms as possible and rinse out everything. Then measure ammonia again.

water is not cloudy diatoms are only on rocks

 

[LiverockRocks Verified Sponsor]

How much live rock is in your system?
How much live sand?
Healthy live rock processes ammonia.

 

[Garf]

I have ammonia spike in my 120g FOWLR I have diatoms as well . Tank is cycled 3months old . I have 5 fishes in . Ammonia 0.2ppm , Nitrite 0.1 ppm , PH 8.0ppm , Nitrate 40ppm . I did 25%WC. What can I do ? What went wrong?

As long as ammonia and nitrite stay low like these results, they are of little concern.

 

[Freenow54]

Would not be concerned Ammonia not that bad. Just do water changes yo reduce Nitrates . No mention of a skimmer if not I would get one. Like other comments above about Ammonia

 

[M46]

As long as ammonia and nitrite stay low like these results, they are of little concern.

I dose Prime wasn’t sure if safe . I think bacteria can’t catch up with ammonia. I’m not over feeding . Only I can think of tank is still new.

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

I dose Prime wasn’t sure if safe . I think bacteria can’t catch up with ammonia. I’m not over feeding . Only I can think of tank is still new.

Now that you've used Prime, most ammonia tests will be useless since Prime *TEMPORARILY* converts ammonia to a non-toxic form. The ammonia is still in your tank. Not saying this was a bad move, just that it's not the final one. If you can, do another water change and add some bottled bacteria so your tank can more quickly process the increased ammonia.

 

[M46]

Would not be concerned Ammonia not that bad. Just do water changes yo reduce Nitrates . No mention of a skimmer if not I would get one. Like other comments above about Ammonia

I did WC I do have skimmer . I think tank is still new and there’s some bioload I guess. Thanks

How much live rock is in your system?
How much live sand?
Healthy live rock processes ammonia.

65lbs of rocks , 80lbs of sand some ceramic blocks in sump , I think my bacteria can’t catch up with ammonia , 2 tangs , trigger fish, foxface , small butterfly fish , 2 clowns , all of them looks great

 

[dedragon]

rodi, or semi filtered water being used?

 

[Spare time]

What test kit are you using is my first question

Did you add a bunch of fish all at once? How was the tank cycled?

 

[M46]

Now that you've used Prime, most ammonia tests will be useless since Prime *TEMPORARILY* converts ammonia to a non-toxic form. The ammonia is still in your tank. Not saying this was a bad move, just that it's not the final one. If you can, do another water change and add some bottled bacteria so your tank can more quickly process the increased ammonia.

Now that you've used Prime, most ammonia tests will be useless since Prime *TEMPORARILY* converts ammonia to a non-toxic form. The ammonia is still in your tank. Not saying this was a bad move, just that it's not the final one. If you can, do another water change and add some bottled bacteria so your tank can more quickly process the increased ammonia.

How much WC would you recommend ? And don’t use prime anymore?

What test kit are you using is my first question

Did you add a bunch of fish all at once? How was the tank cycled?

Fishless cycle with ammonia, Red Sea test kit, about 2 fishes every 2 weeks

 

[M46]

How much WC would you recommend ? And don’t use prime anymore?

Fishless cycle with ammonia, Red Sea test kit, about 2 fishes every 2 weeks

rodi, or semi filtered water being used?

Rodi water

 

[M46]

What test kit are you using is my first question

Did you add a bunch of fish all at once? How was the tank cycled?

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

First, there is substantial debate as to whether or not Prime actually does anything for ammonia. If it does what it says it does, it will only detoxify ammonia for 24 hours -after that, if there was a dangerous amount of ammonia in your tank before you added Prime and you did nothing else to lower it, the ammonia will again be at a dangerous level. (It's debatable that your ammonia was too high to begin with though...)

My only point was that "detoxified" ammonia will show up on most tests the same as if you hadn't added Prime, so testing again within 24 hours of using it will probably not be helpful.

 

[Spare time]

You accidentally left it blank (EDIT I see the other one you made)

 

[Spare time]

How much WC would you recommend ? And don’t use prime anymore?

Fishless cycle with ammonia, Red Sea test kit, about 2 fishes every 2 weeks

Ok. Have you tested it against freshly made saltwater?

Regardless, you can easily fix this by dumping another bottle of cycling bacteria in.

 

[M46]

What test kit are you using is my first question

Did you add a bunch of fish all at once? How was the tank cycled?

Red Sea test, fishless cycle with ammonia, 2 fishes every 2 weeks