I did it again... Ammonia spike

[NeonRabbit221B]

TLDR; 40B AIO with ammonia issue after vacuuming sand bed and finding dead snails. Did the standard reaction plan in my head but just freaking out.

I have been dealing with dinos and decided to do some heavy removal and clean up. Used a powerhead as a vacuum and had an mp40 going to pull out as much as I could. Dinos are really frustrating btw.... well about halfway through I saw 2 dead snails (i usually check in the mornings but its been rough at work) and some coral that had started to turn brown.. I stupidly just kept vacuuming and cleaning and checked my ammonia at the end to find it was about a .4-.8 (panic occurs and didn't do a good reading). I added some Prime and Stability immediately.

I quickly did a 4g WC I was going to use for my nano and QT and mixed up another 40 L of new SW (it was all of my RODI) and did that about 2 hours later. I have a powerhead aimed at the top of the water in addition, changed my carbon, double checked on my fish/snail head count and wrote this post. All of my training goes to the drain in a panic and I think I am missing something... I will be going to the LFS for water tomorrow. I am just worried that with the high flow, accidental knock over of a coral or two and going in like a madman vacuuming I stressed my fish. Any tips would be appreciated.

Edit: its also 4 AM and I have work at 8. Sometimes these things make me want to throw in the towel.

 

[piranhaman00]

How did you measure .4-.8 NH4?

 

[Topekoms]

Sounds to me you need to stop messing with your tank. Lower your lighting schedule and just stop messing. Do weekly 20% water change and let the tank settle down. You keep messing with it is only going to make it worst. Trust me when I first started 8 years ago I went thru the same struggle.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Red sea test kit. Tested it twice

 

[Topekoms]

Also can you post full stats of your tank Alk, Cal, Nitrate, Nitrite etc...

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Sounds to me you need to stop messing with your tank. Lower your lighting schedule and just stop messing. Do weekly 20% water change and let the tank settle down. You keep messing with it is only going to make it worst. Trust me when I first started 8 years ago I went thru the same struggle.

I was trying to follow a general protocol for dinos (manual removal) which has been ongoing for about 2 months... Not sure if I just over did it and stirred up the sandbed too much or if the snails caused the ammonia spike. I don't think what I was doing was outside the book.. Anything else as a reaction plan to a spike in ammonia?

 

[Mortie31]

IMO if 2 dead snails cause an ammonia spike you need to get some more bacterial capacity into your tank, how old is the tank, how much rock, sand, bio blocks etc do u have? and as others have said stop messing so much...

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

Also can you post full stats of your tank Alk, Cal, Nitrate, Nitrite etc...

Nitrates 10 ppm
Phosphates .02
Calcium 400
Alk 8.2
Salinity 1.26
pH 8.1 at time of spike but does vary 7.9 - 8.2

 

[Topekoms]

The more you mess cleaning etc. you are not letting the tank stabilize. So just do 20% water changes for a while. Cut back feeding. What is stocked in your tank?

 

[Topekoms]

Also can you post a picture of your tank?

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

IMO if 2 dead snails cause an ammonia spike you need to get some more bacterial capacity into your tank, how old is the tank, how much rock, sand, bio blocks etc do u have? and as others have said stop messing so much...

The tank was transfer from a 30 which ran for about 3 months but I had a hard time with the HOB and dinos.... The 40 has been up for 3ish months and I did keep the old rock and seeded it with LR from my nano which has been doing much better. Rock is around 50 lb, sand is estimated at 60 lb, filter floss, carbon and a chamber for chaeto and 2 crappy UV sterilizers/powerheads.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

The more you mess cleaning etc. you are not letting the tank stabilize. So just do 20% water changes for a while. Cut back feeding. What is stocked in your tank?

Valentini Puffer
2 Clowns
Algae Blenny
Bicolor Blenny
1 Conch
4-8 snails (unsure due to death)
Atleast 6 hermits

Again, I understand where I screwed up and it was out of frustration trying to remove the heavy dino buildup. is there anything else I should be doing about the ammonia?

Edit: no recent picture but can post one in the morning.

 

[Topekoms]

Take a breather and step back. The amount you stated in ammonia level isn't enough to panic about. Couple more questions

What kind of snails?
What kind of hermits?

What kind of filter you running on this tank? Do you have a sump? What details you gave is a little vague.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

*Deep breath*
Sorry, bit of an anxiety problem and I really do appreciate any help.

At my last count I had 2 turbans, 4 turbos and 2 ceirths. I atlest has 2 turbos dead today.
Hermits... errr fairly sure I got blue legged.

Filter is an AIO I did out of a foam wall. 3 chamber setup with the 1st being a filter floss pad and carbon. pump is a MJ1200 for outlet. Trying a chaeto refugium in the 2nd with minimal lighting due to bottoming out nitrates and phosphates about a month ago.

Edit: no sump

 

[Topekoms]

What kind of foam? Can you please post a pic of what you got going on having trouble picturing it.

 

[NeonRabbit221B]

AIO Build - 40G Breeder AIO Custom Build

So not sure what to do. I siliconed it in place and had a leak in the front. I went ahead to doubled up on it the second time and had another leak. I am not sure how much of a leak would cause an issue but the chambers are definitely not sealed off or water tight. So frustrating and this is...

www.reef2reef.com

Foam wall was based on a user article.