high ammonia, no fresh saltwater..livestock

[smokey_the_bear]

alright, .075ppm.so i have a 10 gallon with a baby true perc and 9 snails and 4 hermits with about 7-8 pounds of LR. the tank has only been upgraded to a ten for 2 and a half weeks but i didnt add new live rock and i bought new sand (20lbs) with one scoop of rinsed (in saltwater) old sand from the original tank. i have no clue how i have that much ammonia and did a 20% water change 2 days ago and that was the last of my mixed water. im running carbon and filter floss (which i change every three days ) and i feed flake once every other day and once a week brine. my corals are a rock with pink star polyps and a few palys, and a small frag of zoas. they havent opened for two days. (mabey a few polyps but then close soon after they open). i also have a AC70 fuge mod with chaeto (that wont grow) and my fuge light is a GE 26w swirl PC. and my tank light is a 70w MH. and i have a koralia nano and a aqueon 10 with floss for more flow. i dont know whats causing it. i do waterchanges 20% once a week (ive been fighting nitrates for two months with this live rock and water) and also have diatom issues. i moved my rock arrangement once this week but i dont see how this could cause a huge spike, they didnt leave the water and barley disturbed the sand. plus the sands "brand new"

 

perams as of now

nitrate-20ppm (as usual)

nitrite-0ppm

ammonia-.075ppm

ph-8.2

temp-80.1

calcium-420ppm

kh-10

 

also i use walmart distilled (in the jug,not dispenser) for mixing and top off

 

thank- Ryan

advice is very welcome here..

[Degener8]

the tank has only been upgraded to a ten for 2 and a half weeks

 

Its cycling due to the change or everything adding sand moving rock etc etc.

 

you will want to make sure you get more water and get it mixed etc you will likely want to do multiple small water changes to keep ammonia low since you have all your critters in the tank.

 

diatom blooms are part of the cycle.

 

just keep mixing and changing water every few days the bacteria will catch up shortly. (1-2 gallons every 2nd or 3rd day I hope will be enough)

 

I would also target feed your animals.. no more than they are intersted in at the time. This will keep from adding extra load to the system.

[Pickle010]

+1 - you will want to soft cycle the tank. Keep a close eye on your peramiters and be prepared to do a few extra water changes to keep your LS alive.

[smokey_the_bear]

alright getting more mix and water tomorrow then a large waterchange but not too big. and would chemipure help? i was looking into it. and have never used it. i do target feed my clown when i do brine with a pipette and just a few flakes on other days. its weird their just now spiking after a 2 weeks, and i used the old tank water when i upgraded (from a 5.5) so i added mabey 3-4 more gallons. anyways thanks for the help, ill take it slow and see what happens

 

alright edit- i did two more ammonia test and got 0 for the first and like .01 or less. this test kits lame its an API too...i guess it might be gettin old? im going to take a sample to my LFS tomorrow see what they get