Random ammonia spikes

Warthur · Jun 6, 2017

hey guys,
I've been helping one of my buddies set up a new aquarium. His tank was cycled with live rock and live sand for 2 months (pre cured live rock). Since everything was running well we decided to order him a 5 damsels to be the first fish in the tank (50 cube). They are set to be delivered to his place on Friday. This morning however, his tank read 2ppm for ammonia with nothing but the rock and sand in it. Could this be a bacteria die off? All peramiters are good except for the ammonia and resulting nitrite (2ppm ammonia, .5 ppm nitrite, 20ppm nitrate)

SM_Reef · Jun 6, 2017

I'd wait until tomorrow and retest. Something could have died off for sure. It is odd that you're seeing ammonia and nitrite in a tank that has been setup for as long as you have said. How many lbs of live rock do you have and how porous is the rock? It is possible that you do not have enough of a bacteria bioload in your tank to convert harmful nutrients. If you have a healthy biological colony in place it should have absolutely no problem cycling your ammonia and nitrite before you see it on a test almost at any given time.

Warthur · Jun 6, 2017

That's what I figured. It's 65lbs of live rock. It's pretty porous as well. Just confusing since initial die off would be in the first few days after it was transported not 2 months in when levels are steady

SM_Reef · Jun 6, 2017

Agreed. Hopefully someone else can chime in on information I may not know to help with your problem. Nothing has been stirred up? As in, you haven't siphoned the sand/changed aquascape?

Warthur · Jun 6, 2017

Only water changes... no sand siphoning or storing up of anything

Warthur · Jun 6, 2017

Okay so he uses the API freshwater kit for his testing (LFS was dumb enough to sell it to him for saltwater). I took a sample of the water to the LFS and it read 0 for ammonia. His API freshwater read a constant of 2ppm ammonia. Do the API kits just not work well? I've never used them

SM_Reef · Jun 6, 2017

I would upgrade test kits, sounds like we figured it out though. I'd do a small water change before the fish arrive to reduce those nitrates a little but it's no huge issue. Good luck guys with the chromis!