Help i don't know what to do

[natalie_0612]

So I have a 30 gallon tank that I started in October. I only have 2 clowns a cleaner shrimp and snails and hermits for my cuc. I checked my ammonia level this morning and its 1.0 rpm I have to go to work and wont be home til later tonight. The fish store that I go to for water is 45 minutes away and will be closed by the time I get out of work. Is there bottled water that I can use from the store to do an emergency water change tonight?! TIA

 

[Katrina71]

I was told nursery water was the best emergency option.

 

[Gareth elliott]

For 2 years i used distilled water from walmart with no issues on my nano. Was the cheapest i found.

 

[NatD]

What led you to check your ammonia this morning? How’s everyone acting? What test are you using?

FWIW, I used gallons of distilled to top off my nano for a good year before I read here that I shouldn’t.

 

[Vinman]

So I have a 30 gallon tank that I started in October. I only have 2 clowns a cleaner shrimp and snails and hermits for my cuc. I checked my ammonia level this morning and its 1.0 rpm I have to go to work and wont be home til later tonight. The fish store that I go to for water is 45 minutes away and will be closed by the time I get out of work. Is there bottled water that I can use from the store to do an emergency water change tonight?! TIA

I know this may not help at the moment but in the future instead of buying more fish or Coral or the latest Gizmo and Technology you should invest in Rodi system they're really not that expensive when you measure the benefit of the payoff. Even relying on local fish store for water is risky. To me pure water is the most important part of reefing without a good start everything else will be a struggle. Traveling 45 minutes for water and then the cost of the water sounds like it could get expensive

 

[camostore]

you can find RO water in some stores

 

[John3]

Always keep a bottle of Prime handy for emergencies.

 

[Smarkow]

Always keep a bottle of Prime handy for emergencies.

2nd this
Also some big box stores that have pet supplies may stock some reef safe water conditioners that would not be ideal, but better than ammonia

Good luck

 

[Dom]

There are two things to address here:

1. The presence of ammonia, which correctly, you can address with a water change.

2. The cause of the ammonia appearing in the tank. One cause could be an insufficient nitrifying bacteria colony.

How old is the tank and was it completely cycled before adding inhabitants? How quickly did you add everything to the tank? Was everything added at the same time?

 

[natalie_0612]

There are two things to address here:

1. The presence of ammonia, which correctly, you can address with a water change.

2. The cause of the ammonia appearing in the tank. One cause could be an insufficient nitrifying bacteria colony.

How old is the tank and was it completely cycled before adding inhabitants? How quickly did you add everything to the tank? Was everything added at the same time?

It was set up and running with established love rock from a friend of the family's tank for about 2 weeks before I added fish. I only added the shrimp 3 days ago.

 

[SandJ]

I was told nursery water was the best emergency option.

Don’t they add fluoride to nursery water?

 

[Katrina71]

Don’t they add fluoride to nursery water?

I guess some could. Most new age moms are organic. Pure only.

 

[El_Guapo13]

It was set up and running with established love rock from a friend of the family's tank for about 2 weeks before I added fish. I only added the shrimp 3 days ago.

What about the filtration? Also did you use live sand in addition to live rock?

2 weeks is kinda too short in most cases to start adding any livestock to a new tank, regardless of if we are talking about saltwater fish only tanks, reef tanks, or even freshwater tanks (which are generally more forgiving than saltwater tanks). Likewise, it is never a good idea to add a lot of livestock, particularly fish, all at one time as doing so does tend to result in huge ammonia swings due to the sharp increase in waste produced by the tank inhabitants.

Aside from the cleaner shrimp, what other clean up crew livestock do you have in your tank(amounts of each animal would be appreciated)?

Lastly, do you have any corals in the tank, how many, and were they added at the same time as the fish? That to would add to the overall bioload of the tank, increasing the amount of strain on the filtration, both natural ( ie bacteria) and man made ( pump, bioballs, activated carbon, filter media, etc.).

 

[mcdrichj]

First add some Seachem Prime as stated above it will detoxify the ammonia and some nitrifying bacteria. This should hold the tank over if you cant do a water change. If you can sneak one in then do a water change this is always best. Second go to the grocery store after work and get gallons of distilled water to make your salt water.

When you started your tank I would always recommend that you properly cycle your tank before adding live stock. I know looking at an empty tank for 4 weeks or more isnt fun but its best for your pets.

 

[Malifry97]

So I have a 30 gallon tank that I started in October. I only have 2 clowns a cleaner shrimp and snails and hermits for my cuc. I checked my ammonia level this morning and its 1.0 rpm I have to go to work and wont be home til later tonight. The fish store that I go to for water is 45 minutes away and will be closed by the time I get out of work. Is there bottled water that I can use from the store to do an emergency water change tonight?! TIA

Dose some prime to detox

 

[Malifry97]

Also a bottle of seachem stability (bottled bacteria) that treats 400 gallons is like 6-8$. Throw a bottle that in. You could use another product like biospira or turbo start also

 

[HawaiianReef]

Yes, prime is your best friend in matter such as this. However, I believe it's a little tricky in your situation. If you need more beneficial bacteria, you need to have ammonia, at least for a couple weeks. I would use the prime now, then water change to keep the ammonia low. Not absent, just low.
Yes, an ro/di system is almost mandatory as it will save a bit of money, and mostly save you a ton of headache.
Here's one I see others using. I'm not sure if the filter cartridges can be replaced on this one, but at this price point, it's still reasonable as a disposable unit. For a 30g system, this should last a long time.

rodi - Google Shopping

www.google.com

 

[southerntnreefer]

Prime to detox for sure! if you can get to a grocery store, i ran a 30 gallon tank for a long time off the water there. Just mix your salt in, heat it and your good to go.

 

[brandon429]

I doubt its accurate. was the tank cloudy, smelly, or things dying

was the alarm purely off the test reading or the environment showed something?

If your tank was lacking active surface area, the fish don't survive the first nite. we measure lack of active surface area within ten hours, not a few weeks. so curious to know if anything died (justifies the reading) or tank looks fine/acting fine

for example, if you used Prime in the water prep or before the reading, it causes false readings. curious if thats a factor

 

[Dr. Bull]

You stated in the original post that you started the tank back in October, so it is safe to assume that it is less than a month old. You also mentioned that you just added more livestock within the past few days. More than likely your tank does not have a sufficient amount of bacteria established yet for the additional bioload, due to the fact that it is still cycling. A large water change now will likely disrupt the cycle, as will adding chemicals to remove the ammonia. However to ensure the health of the current inhabitants you should deffinitly try to get the levels down with a small water change, maybe 25% so that it does not reduce the ammonia levels completely so the tank can finish its cycle.

I highly suggest waiting at least a month before adding anything new to the tank, and take it slow.

I also recommend running a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge on the tank so you can quickly gauge ammonia levels at a glance during cycling.

As for water, I agree that a RO/DI unit is the way to go, however in an emergency you should be able to use high quality distilled or bottled "spring water". There are two big spring water companies that run all of their production water through RO/DI (not going to plug the names), just make sure you check the labels. RO/DI is the standard though and other options should be reserved for emergency use only.

If I was buying water from a LFS I would make sure I at least had my own TDS meter to verify that they are keeping up with their filter changes to ensure your getting 0 TDS water.