Ascensive Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 hey people. ive had my 10 gallon tank up and going for about a month now. since starting it, i have been testing it, and my nitrates have been 0, my nitrites have been 0, but my ammonia has been a constant .25. i have a penguin bio-wheel 125, the filter and bio-wheel was taken out last sunday. 13 pounds of live rock, 20 pounds of the bagged live sand from petco, and a small cup of live sand from a LFS's live rock tank. i have a striped mushroom, and a frogspawn coral, 5 snails, and 2 hermit crabs. i put a few drops of calcium in the tank a week, and a couple drops of micro-vert each week. until a couple of weeks ago, i stopped doing a 10 percent weekly water chage. other than that, i just do weekly top-offs for evaporation. i am going to trade in a couple of my astrea snails for nassarius snails since they go on the sand and eat detrius. i am getting the 2x40 20 inch sealife pc with moonlite fixture to replace my 36w actinic/10k. i hope that is enough info to possibly answer my question. HOW DO I GET RID OF THE AMMONIA? the time taken to respond will be greatly appreciated. jAy Link to comment
kennerd Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Originally posted by Ascensive HOW DO I GET RID OF THE AMMONIA? One month isn't too long for a cycle to run its course. Doesn't sound like you have very much bioload, either. Without much die-off from your live rock, or detritus from cleaning crew or fish, your cycle may take a bit longer. I'd back off on the water changes as you've already done, and let nature runs its course. Also, it may be worth your while to have someone else test your water. Test kits can be finicky at times. If you have a consistent readings that don't make sense, try a different test. Talk to another local reefer or bring a water sample to your LFS: most will test the water for free. Also, you don't have anything in your tank that requires the micro vert, so I wouldn;t add it. Micro vert is for filter feeders, such as non-photosynthetic gorgonians and feather dusters that feed from the water column. Next: poke around and see if you can get some live sand from locals, etc. to give your sandbed a charge. Link to comment
Ascensive Posted July 30, 2003 Author Share Posted July 30, 2003 Re: month old tank...constant .25 ammonia: reasons? quote: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Originally posted by Ascensive HOW DO I GET RID OF THE AMMONIA? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Doesn't sound like you have very much bioload: How could I have had much more of a bio-load, if I'm not suppose to have anything in the tank? If I stirred up the bottom, a lot of detrius would come up, it's like wet dust? the snails crap a lot. how long does it seem like this could take? I'm going to the LFS to get my water tested in a bit. Next: poke around and see if you can get some live sand from locals, etc. to give your sandbed a charge. : I did not mention I have 20 pounds of Bio-Active Live Aragonite Reef Sand from That Fish Place, and then I got a small cup of live sand from a LFS's live rock tank. Could I put something in the tank, small dime sized piece of shrimp? right now, after a month, i'd be excited to see almost ANY type of changed to get closer to 0-0-0 jAy Link to comment
kennerd Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Get the water test done first: could be as simple as your kit. I realize you don't have much of a bioload, so how much waste are you actually producing in the tank, is more my point. Where did you get your live rock & was it already cured? Link to comment
Ascensive Posted July 30, 2003 Author Share Posted July 30, 2003 i got my live rock from two places, both LFS, a bit more than half was cured, the rest of it, seemed to be a bit too white to have anything on it, but now it's getting purplish and such now. I may by a pound today when I get my water tested, instead of the damn clown goby i want to get, since my water aint right. i'll post some pics of my tank, when i build my site, and ill post my test info when i get back. id really like to get it straight. thank you kennerd for your help. jAy Link to comment
kennerd Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 No sweat, bud: just remember nothing good happens fast in a reef tank. Link to comment
Monkeyman Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Originally posted by kennerd No sweat, bud: just remember nothing good happens fast in a reef tank. 'Cept bad stuff. MikeB) Link to comment
kennerd Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 Yer quick, there Mike!: (yes, pun intended there, too) Link to comment
chufa Posted July 30, 2003 Share Posted July 30, 2003 I would bet it is a bad test kit reading. Otherwise it would make no sense. Confirm it with a different test, like the LFS as previously suggested. Link to comment
Ascensive Posted July 31, 2003 Author Share Posted July 31, 2003 ok the lfs says my ammonia is undetectable. from my eyes, its a bit on the .25 side, but in the lfs light it's more on the 0 light green side, maybe with a .15-.20 darkish green. he says it looks like my tank is fine. i dont know if that means, im far from this ammonia spike, or i didnt have one or already had one, and in a couple more weeks my tank will be able to handle the addition of a cleaner shrimp and in a while a clown goby. my na and ni are both zero, and my ph is 8.3. im not going to do any water changes for a couple more weeks and see what changes during that period. right now im on the positive side since i was not told anything negative from the readings. in a couple of weeks, if things are dapper with my na, ni, and ammonia, would you guys say im ready to move on and begin to add to my tank? i wanted to get a cleaner shrimp for my tank but i am going out of town for a few weeks, i didnt want to get something, leave and have it be dead when i got back, but then again if it did die, i would definately get that ammonia spike i was thinking id get during my cycle! if you are reading this, and have an opinion or thought on this, post it here please. thanks again in advance for all of the help and feedback. jAy Link to comment
kennerd Posted July 31, 2003 Share Posted July 31, 2003 Did the LFS test for nitrites and nitrates or just the ammonia? If you've never seen any readings on these, you may only be beginning a cycle. How often have you been testing? If you are going to be out of town for a few weeks, I wouldn't add another thing to your tank. Do you have someone to top off the water for you while you are gone? Link to comment
Ascensive Posted August 6, 2003 Author Share Posted August 6, 2003 so i get home, test the water, same thing...the nitrates look like they may be getting something, but bottom line, its still 0. the ammonia looks the same, BUT, while i was gone, a snail died, so maybe now something will happen. and yes, someone was topping the water off for me. before i left the na, and ni was at 0, the ammonia was pretty much at zero as well.... jAy Link to comment
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