Lowering Ammonia

markak · Nov 20, 2015

Hi everyone, I have a question. Will lowering Ammonia bleach and make corals close up and not open fully? My Ammonia was over 0.50 yesterday so I added a ammonia detox. Today my Ammonia is 0 . And today some of my corals are closed up and some not opening up all the way. My red monti is a real dull pinkish color now. Do you think they will recover? I have some new saltwater mixing as I speak. I think I'm going to do a big water change tonight.

twilliard · Nov 20, 2015

In my opinion there shouldn't be any Amonia in the water if the bacterial population is still in effect

redfishbluefish · Nov 20, 2015

Agree with @twilliard , a cycled and viable tank will never have ammonia in detectable limits unless there was major die-off.

markak · Nov 20, 2015

hmmm.... on no ammonia, no die- off. How do I know if my bacteria is crashing?

dakoop · Nov 20, 2015

If you have ammonia after a cycle something died or killed bacteria.

beaslbob · Nov 20, 2015

markak said:
Hi everyone, I have a question. Will lowering Ammonia bleach and make corals close up and not open fully? My Ammonia was over 0.50 yesterday so I added a ammonia detox. Today my Ammonia is 0 . And today some of my corals are closed up and some not opening up all the way. My red monti is a real dull pinkish color now. Do you think they will recover? I have some new saltwater mixing as I speak. I think I'm going to do a big water change tonight.

1. some test kits like the api ammonia test kit routinely measure .25. But the tank is fine
2. Ammonia detox like Prime/amquell do lock up the ammonia but it still test positive as most test kits measure total ammonia not just the free ammonia.
3. the seachem ammonia dot and seachem multitest ammonia kit do measure the free ammonia.
4. ammonia detox also lock up oxygen and add sulphur to the systems.
5. macro algae will consume ammonia directly, accumulate many toxins, consume carbon dioxide and return oxygen and pods (coral food LOL).

I think any coral problems you're having are do to the ammonia detox. Perhaps it is best to lets go along and hopefully the corals will recover.

my .02

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 20, 2015

How much of what did you add?

markak · Nov 20, 2015

Kordon Amquel Plus Water Conditioner. I used 4oz for 260 gals. I just got done doing a 70 gal water change. Things aren't looking good, even my coral line is whited out.

markak · Nov 21, 2015

OMG I killed my tank! The bottle said it was reef safe. Kordon Amquel Plus Water Conditioner Protects fish and invertebrates by quickly and effectively eliminating nitrite, nitrate, and all forms of ammonia, chloramines, and chlorine in both fresh and salt water. Safe for reef and live rock aquariums.

Randy Holmes-Farley · Nov 21, 2015

markak said:
OMG I killed my tank! The bottle said it was reef safe. Kordon Amquel Plus Water Conditioner Protects fish and invertebrates by quickly and effectively eliminating nitrite, nitrate, and all forms of ammonia, chloramines, and chlorine in both fresh and salt water. Safe for reef and live rock aquariums.

I'd be surprised if the Amquel did it.

Why was the ammonia elevated?

brandon429 · Nov 21, 2015

Also post full tank shot

Your reef is in cardiac and we are about to CPR it, after getting full pics.

markak · Nov 21, 2015

I don't know why the ammo was up, my tank is over 6 yrs old never had trouble with ammo. I usually don't test for ammo. Something just didn't seem right fish were acting sluggish, and stressed, when I went in front the tank some of the fish went into hiding. So I tested everything ALK 9, PH 8.3, nitrate 0, nitrite 0, phos 10 always high for my tank. Everything was good. But Ammo was up to 50. So I thought I would treat it. I went to Petco and go a bottle of Kordon Amquel Plus Water Conditioner, went by the directions and treated tank. The next day everything was all closed up and the haed corals were all bleached out. Today the only SPS I have is a white stick, Red monti is a light pink with white edges. My LPS are looking a little better they are open a little more but not all the way normal. I will try to get up some pics. I could kick myself for even trying chemicals.

markak · Nov 21, 2015

Here are some Tank shots. Sorry cell phone doesn't take good pictures.

markak · Nov 21, 2015

Not quite that white as pics show, but almost, still a little color in some corals.

brandon429 · Nov 21, 2015

Undoubtedly the first step if bleaching is suspect or occurring is to drop light intensity and acclimate them for the density of zoox they have the standard lighting that runs a normally healthy mixed reef is lethal during bleaching events but the non sps corals look normal it doesn't look like a tankwide issue too badly.

Continuing details, no fish loss right? Palys seem ok and open they usually close when free ammonia is present

Can you confirm there is no free ammonia in the tank and what brand ammonia test kit do you use
I don't think it's a big loss maybe just a few sps

In your tank, a dead fish would have to occur to be able to overcome the nitrifying abilities of that massive rock stack and register as any free ammonia as a true ongoing tank measurement, cycled tanks with average live rock loading are known to digest 4 ppm in 24 hrs for example

I wouldn't be adding any free ammonia, had a thread about that lately.

If all fish are present and you can confirm you didn't disturb a waste laden sandbed during a water change it could have been a false ammonia event. Back in the day we were getting posts on nitrite spikes in aged tanks and due to the popularity of prime usage, it was found that API nitrite kits can make a false positive with that combo of prime use and API nitrite testing we do see false ammonia events at times

Nice job on big water change

markak · Nov 21, 2015

Ok I'll lower the LEDs. No fish loss, I used API test kit to check Ammo, Exps 2020. Ammo test today is 0. Your right maybe I'll lose a couple SPS. Softies look like they will recover. I just don't know what happened. It had to be that Kordon Amquel Plus Water Conditioner. That the only thing different.

brandon429 · Nov 21, 2015

So glad it's an early catch and no clouding etc I think it's headed off at the pass. Not that 9 was bad, but higher alk support again associated with mass building healthy sps somehow inter plays with bright lighting to be a bleaching accelerant when they are stressed not sure why.

In the bigger sps bleaching threads on our board here and even the ones at nano reef.com you'll see a recurring lower light, increased heterotrophic feeding for the sps and not primo levels alk + sustain and reevaluate in three mos as a recurring fix combo

markak · Nov 21, 2015

I hope so. I'm running alot of carbon, hope that's ok? Just in case it a chemical overdose. Also did two 70 gal each water changes. Thanks for everyones help