I messed up and need advice.

[Lisa Cain]

I have a 90 gallon aquarium that currently has a diatom bloom.

The Ammonia is reading .25ppm or a little less with the API Kit
The nitrite is reading .25ppm
The Nitrates are about 20 ppm

I put in 6o lbs of live sand, live rock, enough bio sphere for 75 gallons, some of the water from my established 35 gallon biocube, I am running one HD Prime and I have ordered another. The tank has been cycling for 10 days

I did something that I should not have done. Two days ago I put in a green chromis, who is doing wonderful. I also put in a brain coral that is doing supper wonderful and a polyp.

Well today I was in the pet store and I saw a beautiful blue tang on a wonderful sale. I purchased it. I said I would put it in my 32 gallon biocube for a few days and then transfer to my new tank..

When I got home my other fish and two corals were doing so well in the 90 that I put in the the blue tang. I fed it and about 3 hours later checked the water and I have the reading above.

Should I remove him and pt him in the 32 gallon biocube?

I realize that I should have waited.

I have a chemipure and purigen filter that I have not used but should I wait ot put it in the tank. Shoud I simply let nature take its course?

Last edited: 2 minutes ago

 

[OREGONIC]

You could add some Seachem Prime. It detoxifies ammonia.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thanks! What about the nitrite and the nitrite and nitrate levels?

 

[Sierra_Bravo]

+1 on dosing Prime. Any level of ammonia is not good. You can grab some Bio Spira from Petco also to help build up your bacteria.

 

[Idoc]

Thanks! What about the nitrite and the nitrite and nitrate levels?

The nitrite and nitrate won't effect the marine fish for the most part. It's the ammonia that's the killer.

 

[Lisa Cain]

I put isn enough biosphere for 75 gallons should I add more?

 

[OREGONIC]

20 nitrates is not going to kill anything.
Here is Prime description
“Seachem Prime Marine & Freshwater Conditioner is a complete, concentrated conditioner for both marine and freshwater aquariums. It effectively removes chlorine and chloramine, and detoxifies ammonia, converting it into a safe, non-toxic form that is readily removed by the tank’s biofilter. Prime detoxifies nitrite and nitrate, allowing the biofilter to more efficiently remove them. It will also detoxify heavy metals found in tap water. It is non-acidic and will not impact pH. Use at startup and whenever adding or replacing water.”

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thank you. Pet store is closed but going to run to walmart.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Is nitrites dangerous. Mine is reading .25

 

[OREGONIC]

I keep it on hand at all times for emergencies and use it on my water changes for my planted tank to kill chlorine. When I first set up my reef tank I had a slight rise in ammonia when I added the first livestock, used prime for a week after to give bacteria time to catch up to its new bioload. Also had to use one time when my nephew dumped way to much food in tank. Took several water changes and a week of prime before things balanced out nothing ever showed any signs of distress. Its a cheap insurance to keep on hand.

 

[Yates273]

Prime is a great product. Personally I have been using Seachem Safe. Same as Prime but goes a lot further since it is a concentrated powder. Guess in reef tank though you don’t need it every time you do a water change unlike a freshwater tank. Once you dose with Prime you should be good just keep an eye on your other parameters.

 

[ReefguyEric]

Sounds like your tank is still cycling

 

[OREGONIC]

Prime will detoxify the nitrites as well. I read somewhere that Prime binds with ammonia and nitites making it non toxic to livestock but allowing bacteria to still process it. I believe you will still test positive for both ammonia and nitrites when using prime but it is non toxic. It convets ammonia from nh3 to nh4 or something like that which test kits cant determine the difference between. I have always just followed the directions and tried to take in account water displacement to get a rough idea of actual water volume when determining how much to dose.

 

[Lisa Cain]

Thank you!! Thanks to all of you!!