ladyamanda Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 OK, I've been testing my system basically daily, and I have very stable salinity and temp, but I'm having a fair bit of Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates... As I understand it, the goal is to have all of these at 0...should I just "tough it out" or should I look at a short term chemical control? So far I've done 3 1 gallon water changes, but the levers are still probaby too high, and I'm guessing this is why the Xenia is unhappy.....or am I just acting like a newbie? Date - Temp - Ammonia - ph -Salinity - Suppliments - Misc - NO2 - NO3 - Comments 6/26/2002 - 80 0.25 7.8 1.023 1 gallon water change .2, 2.5PH drop, added 1/3 tsp baking soda to buffer 6/25/2002 80 0.25 8.2 liquid life 1 gallon water change .05, 2.5 peppermint shrimp, Xenia, and 2.3 Lb live rock added. 6/24/2002 80 0.5 8 1.024 1 gallon water change .1, 5 ALK=high? Emerald Crab found dead, 6/23/2002 1.023 Initial Set-up (Edited by ladyamanda at 2:50 pm on June 27, 2002) (Edited by ladyamanda at 2:52 pm on June 27, 2002) Link to comment
Smokey Joe Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 You shouldn't stock a reef tank that soon after setup. The biological filter needs time to get established. This can take anywhere up to a couple months depending on the quality of live rock used. Even with the best rock out there I'd wait at least a week, even if my readings were all zero. It's likely you'll lose everything you have in there now. You need to continue to test and wait until ammonia and nitrites are both zero (not just low, zero). At this point do a water change to bring down your nitrates to acceptable levels. After this you can add hardy species slowly. Link to comment
ladyamanda Posted June 27, 2002 Author Share Posted June 27, 2002 THanks smokey but this was an already established set-up when I bought it, Anthony had had it running for three months...so there already is a biological filter, maybe it need a jump start after being set-up, but it's there, I'm just trying to KEEP it running... I've only added one 2.3 lb rock, a single shrimp to replace the dead emerald crab, and a xenia that Anthony recommended...everting else, water, sand, rock, critters were there before.... Link to comment
Smokey Joe Posted June 27, 2002 Share Posted June 27, 2002 Was the tank moved? You may have had some die off during that time. Or if the added rock wasn't cured well you could get spikes like that. Link to comment
ladyamanda Posted June 27, 2002 Author Share Posted June 27, 2002 yes, the tank was moved. The rock was well cured, I actualyl bought it from the dealer's tank, and it had mushrooms on it, Anthony kept some of his LR, so I figured it would be a good idea to get some well cured rock......it was very wekk cured, and I even tested it's tank water..... There probably was some die off, I'm just trying to get things back in a decent cycle..... Most od the corals seem to be doing fine, it's just the d*mned Xenia..... Link to comment
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