all of a sudden ...boom ...amonia!!!!

[reefwars]

humm well kinda ****ed tonight , being bored as i was testing my live rock bin for amonia and my new little coffee table tank i figured i would do all the tanks, as i did the zoa tank it came up as 1.0 .........like what the @#$#@#$
ill admit after so long test dont happen that often especially for amonia as ive never had it in this tank.so i broke out the test kit and did the full on test and the only two things out are calcium at 520!! which is really highcompared to the usual 460-480 it is. also like stated the amonia was at 1.0

i dont add livestock to this tank minus zoas them selves but i did do a trade for a rock anemone a while back that never showed it face again after being added, ive had nems die before in my tank but a 1.0 seems rather high even though its been about 3 weeks since ive lost the nem.all fish( two cinn clowns,snowflake eel,matted filefish) seem as fine as usual , so only for i tested with it and i repeated the test and i dont think it is the test kit as i test the liverock bin reguarly plus a couple new additions like the roomates tank.

so ill be moving the fish to my holding tank untill i figure out what happened and parameters are right in the morning but its kinda weird because i never add stuff to this tank and this nem is small.ive also noticed some cyano in my tank alot more than whats been popping up here and there

if it helps ive been battlong a aiptasia problem in my 33g which is the tank im talking about ive got roughly 300 heads and rising hence the file fish. i regret to say it seems like my filefish may have a taste for zoas unlike my last one..... ive yet to see him actually eat any zoo's but im down a head of RPE in about 15 mins. it was there then i seen him suck something in from across the room when i got there a head of RPE was missing....i only had two so ...???

also battling a long hair algae problem its just about wiped out but it seems the tonga branch i added a little wile ago atracts the algae alot easier than the other rock in my tank which has none....also note this tank is very small and runs off no ro/di or any skimmer /fuge/pellets...anything ;)??

tank has been running over two years and ive never really seen anything out of whack on this tank, ill admit the cyano is a telling sign to me that things are out of equilibrium, the nem is the last thing to die and only thing ive been concerned with besides the aiptasia:)


yup.....reefing...gotta love it lol :):):)

[reefwars]

kinda glad i found this tonight as the aiptasia problem im having has had me considering housing the fish/eel and zoas in my holding tank ...all but the file fish and cut down on feeding frozen food and let him do a faster job.ive also added roughly 20 baby nudis that i have raised but im realllllly skeptical on how fast a job they can do.it seems they have alot of weaknesses in a full reef besides breeding lol :)

[Myka]

What test kit are you using? Do you use Prime in that tank or any other dechlorinator/ammonia detoxifier? Could list everything that is added to this tank?

[reefwars]

What test kit are you using? Do you use Prime in that tank or any other dechlorinator/ammonia detoxifier? Could list everything that is added to this tank?


im just using a api test kit for amonia and i do use prime for my tapwater.

here are the only things that ever hit my tank on a regular basis:

mostly foods as the only thing i dose for is calcium but havent had to dose in a long time when i do i use kent liquid calcium or purple up.my calcium is usually in the 460 mark.

i add zooplex,coral excel,and microvert 2x a week ...3 for zooplex
i add one half a teaspoon of black powder
flake,brine,mysis,oyster eggs for frozen


here are some water parameters before my water change late last night

temp: 79
sg:1.025
no3: 5ppm
nitrites:0
phos: 1.0
amonia: 1.0

i have a test for alk but havent used it since my last one ran out so it hasnt been tested in a while.

the tank is a 33g it runs with no skimmer just a hob filter with some rubble,carbon.it has about50-60 lbs of liverock plus around a 3-4" sandbed.

the livestock are a pair of cinnamon clowns,a matted filefish,and a snowflake eel.ive been thinking about the eels pvc piping i have , it runs through all the rock and around the back so he has caves through out the hole tank that were buried in sand and rock, kinda gives him more places to explore. now i got to thinking about how much crap gets pulled into those pipes like uneaten food and stuff so for my new tank any piping will have slices or big holes drilled into them to keep them clean:)

i did lose a rock anemone a few weeks ago theres so much stuff in my little tank that once he dissappeared there was no finding him and all my rock especiallt the tongabranch is held together with zipties to keep the eel from toppling anything lol:)

tank is completely full for coral mostly zoas and palys but theres some gorgs,rics,monty cap,misc sps mixed in there as well:)

i use reefers best for salt and usually mix it then plan to use it for the next week but since im down to a few small tanks i find my water is mixing for weeks before used up :)




i have some ammo lock do you think i should use it i dont really like adding stuff like that to my tank though??

the fish are being moved to the other 33g today untill i get it figured out and stable again:)

[reefwars]

if i can i would rather not move the eel thats why i ask about the ammo lock:):)

[Myka]

The Prime will detoxify ammonia. Read the label for cautionary advice and dose more. The API is actually my preferred test kit because it is a salicylate kit which only tests toxic ammonia and is compatible with ammonia detoxifiers. How old is the kit?

That is A LOT of food to be adding to the tank! Personally, I'm not a fan of liquid foods unless they are from nutrient lowering systems (like Zeovit, Fauna Marin, etc). You could try dropping the liquid foods (Zooplex, Microvert), and see if you notice any changes in the tank. I think you would only see positive changes. These foods are probably the major contributor to the elevated phosphate - 1 ppm is A LOT of phosphate. Would help to lower nitrate as well.

Coral Excel is a decent product, though I think it is possible to achieve the same results without using it.

What are your SPS colors like? Brightly colored throughout, brown with colored tips, generally rich colors, generally pastel colors...?

[reefwars]

The Prime will detoxify ammonia. Read the label for cautionary advice and dose more. The API is actually my preferred test kit because it is a salicylate kit which only tests toxic ammonia and is compatible with ammonia detoxifiers. How old is the kit?

That is A LOT of food to be adding to the tank! Personally, I'm not a fan of liquid foods unless they are from nutrient lowering systems (like Zeovit, Fauna Marin, etc). You could try dropping the liquid foods (Zooplex, Microvert), and see if you notice any changes in the tank. I think you would only see positive changes. These foods are probably the major contributor to the elevated phosphate - 1 ppm is A LOT of phosphate. Would help to lower nitrate as well.

Coral Excel is a decent product, though I think it is possible to achieve the same results without using it.

What are your SPS colors like? Brightly colored throughout, brown with colored tips, generally rich colors, generally pastel colors...?

colors in my sps could def be better, most are def pastel colors ,i havent had great success with sps any acros i add die off quickly and so far my birdnest is doing good lots of PE but hardly any color. my procillipora(crappy speller lol) is doing great its tripled in size in about two months.all my montys have great color but no growth.

id like to bring my phos down for sure and i believe you are right its coming from the food mostly, and lately ive been getting algae problems so my nitrates are def higher then whats being tested. my amonia test are around a year old i would say and the bottle is almost empty.i re tested tonight and im down to .5 after a 40% water change last night. what are your thoughts on phosphate remover from coralife or kent phosphate sponge?? do they work??


for my new set up i plan to take better care of whats going in so ill be using ro/di ,controller,phosban reactor,media reactors for carbon.ill have a full fuge with chaeto.ill also be logging certain feeding times so i feed more regulary and so i can keep better track of whats going in:)

[Myka]

colors in my sps could def be better, most are def pastel colors ,i havent had great success with sps any acros i add die off quickly and so far my birdnest is doing good lots of PE but hardly any color. my procillipora(crappy speller lol) is doing great its tripled in size in about two months.all my montys have great color but no growth.

This is primarily from the phosphate.

id like to bring my phos down for sure and i believe you are right its coming from the food mostly, and lately ive been getting algae problems so my nitrates are def higher then whats being tested. my amonia test are around a year old i would say and the bottle is almost empty.i re tested tonight and im down to .5 after a 40% water change last night. what are your thoughts on phosphate remover from coralife or kent phosphate sponge?? do they work??

Algae consumes more phosphate then nitrate. Your tank is a perfect host for algae right now. I wouldn't use either of those phosphate medias. Imo, almost every tank out there would hugely benefit from the use of a TLF PhosBan reactor and some GFO. GFO is the reddish brown granules. Anything else will have a minimal impact. PhosBan reactors are about $45-50 (come with tubing and a ball valve for flow adjustment), a small pack of GFO is about $20-30 (last awhile on the 33), and then you need a MaxiJet 400 to run it. It is a bit of an investment, but imo it shouldn't be overlooked. My algae page talks more about GFO and how to use it.

for my new set up i plan to take better care of whats going in so ill be using ro/di ,controller,phosban reactor,media reactors for carbon.ill have a full fuge with chaeto.ill also be logging certain feeding times so i feed more regulary and so i can keep better track of whats going in:)

Your 33 isn't RO/DI? Try testing the tap water for ammonia, nitrate, and phosphate then. If Edmonton uses chloramine you will be introducing ammonia that way.

I would suggest you keep a refugium and chaeto separately. Chaeto is a great filter when the chamber is designed around it. My algae page talks about that too.

A reef log is worth its weight in gold imo. I keep a detailed log...parameters, when fish are added, take pics and date them, changes in dosing, brand changes, bulbs changes, media changes...I write down lots of stuff. I refer to it often when questions come up.

[reefwars]

After a couple days things are good in the zoa tank, did two large water changes added new carbon , not sure where the amonia came from but it's back down to 0 . Parameters are better now too , phos test I did the other night was botched , I did 3 tests yesterday and all say good. There's a slight color change but it's closer to zero. I priced out a tlf phosban reactor and am buying it next week and going to set ut up next to my hob filter. Aiptasia is clearing up but I witnessed my filefish eat 1 out if 2 of my rpe's....have also watched him eat aiptasia alot so I'll keep watching it's hard to say what's worse the few polyps he nay take out or the now 100+ aiptasia:) he's really making a dent though I'm impressed:)

[foxfishfan]

Hey Denny didn't the nudibranch do the trick with the apstasia. I was hoping you were able to breed them so I could grab one from you or get yours once it killed them all. I hope the filefish does them in. As for nitrates from the algae die-off, Steve from Red Coral sold me a bottle of Tailored Aquatics nitrate destroyer that it supposed to reduce nitrates and phosphates. He said Prime doesn't remove nitrates, just dechorinates even though the bottle states that. So I'm on day 3 of this stuff as for some reason, I'm getting this green algae problem again. I'm starting to think Prime doesn't do the trick on tap water and I should just use RO water for my tank.