What Is wrong with my tank

[matthew.forsyth01]

Also... any presence of nitrItes, will show abnormally high nitrAtes.

But the 8ppm ammonia is of the most concern. With fish living and swimming in the tank, I might be suspect of that test being that high.

gotcha and when you say suspect of the test being high how do you mean

 

[Azedenkae]

Far out, that's high. This is one of those cases where I wonder if the tests are just straight up incorrect. Did you shake the bottles vigorously and all that? Added the bottles in the right steps? Shook the vials in between adding chemicals from each bottle?

8ppm ammonia is so, so, so high, and if you had not been dosing Prime or something similar to 'lock up' the ammonia, that should have spelt disaster.

Can you do a test of your RODI water to see that it indeed reads 0ppm ammonia?

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

Take the fish back to the store and hold them until the tank is cycled.

Closed till tuesday only open wensday-friday ill email him see if i can try to work with him

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

Far out, that's high. This is one of those cases where I wonder if the tests are just straight up incorrect. Did you shake the bottles vigorously and all that? Added the bottles in the right steps? Shook the vials in between adding chemicals from each bottle?

8ppm ammonia is so, so, so high, and if you had not been dosing Prime or something similar to 'lock up' the ammonia, that should have spelt disaster.

Can you do a test of your RODI water to see that it indeed reads 0ppm ammonia?

Yes and double tested them all just to be sure they where right according to the test instructions ive doesd ammo lock for about a week LFS sold be the api stuff said to put it in my tank till ammonia reads zero got more today at Petco

 

[homer1475]

With the fish living, I'm suspect of the test actually being wrong, or unnaturally high. Not sure at what level it will kill fish, or inverts, but I would think your approaching that level if the test kit is correct.

Whats your salinity?

 

[homer1475]

Que brandon in 1.....2.....3.....

 

[homer1475]

Yes and double tested them all just to be sure they where right according to the test instructions ive doesd ammo lock for about a week LFS sold be the api stuff said to put it in my tank till ammonia reads zero got more today at Petco

This explains why your fish are still alive. Your "locking" up the ammonia so it's not harmful to the fish, but still shows on the test kit.

 

[Azedenkae]

Yes and double tested them all just to be sure they where right according to the test instructions ive doesd ammo lock for about a week LFS sold be the api stuff said to put it in my tank till ammonia reads zero got more today at Petco

Ah okay gotcha, so with ammolock that could prevent the ammonia from killing your fish. So that reading could make sense then. I just thought that was the reading without dosing anything.

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

With the fish living, I'm suspect of the test actually being wrong, or unnaturally high. Not sure at what level it will kill fish, or inverts, but I would think your approaching that level if the test kit is correct.

Whats your salinity?

1.027

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

Ah okay gotcha, so with ammolock that could prevent the ammonia from killing your fish. So that reading could make sense then. I just thought that was the reading without dosing anything.

Gotcha and yeah sorry i forgot to mention i was doseing ammo lock

 

[laverda]

What brand test kit are you using to testing ammonia? API is notorious for inaccurate ammonia test results. You need better test kits. Salifert are some of the better ones and my preference. Redsea are also decent. Like others have said ammonia at that level is very toxic! I suspect a testing error. If your tank is a month old and started with real live rock you should not have ammonia or nitrite issues at this point. To be honest your rock looks like it was dry rock. I see no color of any sort on it.
Your PH is fine.
Also a 500 watt heater on a tank that size is asking for trouble. If is should stick on, which is a common failure, it will cook your fish.

 

[Azedenkae]

With that said.

1. You can do a water changes, at least to get ammonia down to 2ppm. With fish-in cycling, the fish are constantly producing ammonia anyways, so even doing a water change to get ammonia down to 0 won't affect the cycle, not really.
2. When you say you started with live rock, was this like, actual live rock immersed in saltwater at the store that likely already has beneficial microbes already established inside? Or are they dry rock, or perhaps just random rocks the LFS chucked into a saltwater container and call them 'live rock'? If you establish a tank with all live rock (presuming you have enough as well, of course), then there should be plenty of nitrifiers to take care of ammonia and most likely allows for insta-cycling. It's honestly uncommon for 'good quality' (sorry, I don't have a better way to describe it atm) live rock to not be able to oxidize heaps of ammonia, especially after a month of being established.
3. That brings up this question - how much live rock, sand, and other biomedia do you have? Sorry, I can't really tell from the pictures, I am super bad at estimating measurements.
4. I would never recommend cycling with so much live stock in, it is just so much trouble, as you are going through right now. And costs too, you are buying ammo lock, testing constantly, probably gonna painfully do a bunch of water changes if need be, etc. Just so much easier to do fishless cycling, imo. But anyways, that's my preference so I guess I digress.

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

What brand test kit are you using to testing ammonia? API is notorious for inaccurate ammonia test results. You need better test kits. Salifert are some of the better ones and my preference. Redsea are also decent. Like others have said ammonia at that level is very toxic! I suspect a testing error. If your tank is a month old and started with real live rock you should not have ammonia or nitrite issues at this point. To be honest your rock looks like it was dry rock. I see no color of any sort on it.
Your PH is fine.
Also a 500 watt heater on a tank that size is asking for trouble. If is should stick on, which is a common failure, it will cook your fish.

All my tests are API Test's ill pic up some differnt kits

Rock was pulled out of his tanks and he said it was live


What wattage of heater would you recommend

 

[dedragon]

just adding to what they already said, what is the TDS of the rodi water? What salt mix are you using? Cannister filters need to be cleaned out 1-2 times a week or they will just become a nitrate source as well

 

[dedragon]

the rocks look pretty white so im not sure if it was really "live rock" or just newly wet dry rocks

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

With that said.

1. You can do a water changes, at least to get ammonia down to 2ppm. With fish-in cycling, the fish are constantly producing ammonia anyways, so even doing a water change to get ammonia down to 0 won't affect the cycle, not really.
2. When you say you started with live rock, was this like, actual live rock immersed in saltwater at the store that likely already has beneficial microbes already established inside? Or are they dry rock, or perhaps just random rocks the LFS chucked into a saltwater container and call them 'live rock'? If you establish a tank with all live rock (presuming you have enough as well, of course), then there should be plenty of nitrifiers to take care of ammonia and most likely allows for insta-cycling. It's honestly uncommon for 'good quality' (sorry, I don't have a better way to describe it atm) live rock to not be able to oxidize heaps of ammonia, especially after a month of being established.
3. That brings up this question - how much live rock, sand, and other biomedia do you have? Sorry, I can't really tell from the pictures, I am super bad at estimating measurements.
4. I would never recommend cycling with so much live stock in, it is just so much trouble, as you are going through right now. And costs too, you are buying ammo lock, testing constantly, probably gonna painfully do a bunch of water changes if need be, etc. Just so much easier to do fishless cycling, imo. But anyways, that's my preference so I guess I digress.

1. RODI System is running right now ill start doing water changes asap
2. Live rock was pulled out of his tanks that fish where living in
3. 30 pounds of rock 40 pounds of sand
4. Wont be doing it again

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

just adding to what they already said, what is the TDS of the rodi water? What salt mix are you using? Cannister filters need to be cleaned out 1-2 times a week or they will just become a nitrate source as well

ive been cleaning it once a week ill start cleaning it more test results of the RODI water is all near zero im using instant Ocean salt comes in a purplish 5 gallon bucket

 

[laverda]

All my tests are API Test's ill pic up some differnt kits

Rock was pulled out of his tanks and he said it was live


What wattage of heater would you recommend

Looks like he only just put the rock in there very recently. Hopefully it was long enough to get some beneficial bacteria established. I have to agree with others, not a store you want to go back to.

Heater size depends on the ambient temp where the tank is located. 100-200 watts should be more than enough. Two 50 watts are better than one 100 watt as they provide redundancy. If one fails on or off it should not kill everything.

 

[matthew.forsyth01]

Looks like he only just put the rock in there very recently. Hopefully it was long enough to get some beneficial bacteria established. I have to agree with others, not a store you want to go back to.

Heater size depends on the ambient temp where the tank is located. 100-200 watts should be more than enough. Two 50 watts are better than one 100 watt as they provide redundancy. If one fails on or off it should not kill everything.

Ill pickup a couple of 50-75 watt's then thank you for the advice and i wont be going back

 

[Azedenkae]

1. RODI System is running right now ill start doing water changes asap
2. Live rock was pulled out of his tanks that fish where living in
3. 30 pounds of rock 40 pounds of sand
4. Wont be doing it again

1. Hopefully that resolves your issues. Even with ammonia locked up, it is good to get nitrite (and nitrate, if there are any) down. Nitrite needs to reach very high levels to kill marine fish, but it's still better to keep it low if possible. Plus, would probs help with not inhibiting nitrification.
2. I agree with @laverda, looks pretty 'new' to me, but anyways we can move past that, whatever is the case right now it is not processing ammonia well enough, presuming your ammonia read was correct.
3. That should be plenty, so long term you should be fine.
4. That's okay, it's not always easy to know the 'best' method, and to be fair people do do fish-in cycling. I have done it before too. It just needs a bit more finesse.