Ammonia problem

[Bear]

I have a 75g tank and things are not looking good for the past few days. Tested the water and the only thing i can see that is off is the ammonia. Its up to .25, so something is going on. The question is, is .25 something i should say, Oh My God to, or is it something to stay calm about and find what is going on. The second question is, since i got up and running about 3 months ago, I always get brown hayes build up a little everyday, mostly at bottom of the glass near the sand. Is that a normal thing? I don't think it is. My friend Walt doesn't seem to have that prolem but he doesn't have much in his tank at this time. His tank has been up for almost a month now. If anyone has had the brown growth on the glass or can help about the ammonia problem that would be great. Thanks in advance

Jerry

Oh, I was thinking that maybe i'm feeding everything too much. Feeding flakes for fish and misashrimp, home made mix of frozen food, and cylclapeas -spelling sorry -

I was thinking that maybe if i am overfeeding and the tank is getting excess food and is building up everyday and little by little maybe the small amount of rotting food is building the ammonia to the point where it is. Does that make sense to anyone.

Again thanks for any help

Jerry

 

[Chris L]

over feeding is a sure fire way to raise your ammonia. cut back on the food . the buildup could be diatoms if it is a algae . i would do a partial water change and watch everything. did you let everything cure before you added fish and corals? have you added any new rock?

 

[Triggerfish]

what test kit you using?
Did it ever complete the initial cycle?
what you have for filtration?
what's in the tank?

 

[Mikeaveli21]

what test kit you using?
Did it ever complete the initial cycle?
what you have for filtration?
what's in the tank?

What he said ^^ . When did you add livestock? Did you add many things at once? Your bacteria may have not caught up with the bioload if you added things too fast. Hence, won't take the ammonia to nitrite to nitrates fast enough.

Also, how much LR do you have in the tank?

 

[Bear]

I don't have much in the tank and I think it fully cylced. I don't feel i added too much at once, all the frags i put in are fairly small. I'm using a aquac ev-120 skimmer and have a refuge in the sump. Have ocean motion close loop along with a mag 1800 to cycle water. I noticed the temp a little higher and sometimes spikes with the heat. I've put in an air conditioner to work with the fans already there. I don't know a lot about reefing yet, but feel that the food issue may be the cause only because I have this fear of underfeeding so i tend to feed much more. I have been told by friend Walt and pet store owner that i'm feeding way too much. So I will do a partial water change, ease up on the food, keep the temp at 79 and see what happens. Anyone know or have the brown alge daily growth problem i have. Not too severe but don't think its normal. I feel it may be the increase in heat, don't know. Well thanks for all the imput and if any of you feel by what i've just told you that there might be something you can add, please do, and thanks in advance.

Well thanks again all
Jerry

 

[Mikeaveli21]

1. What brand of test kit are you using?
2. What are you feeding? (fish? if so what kind and how many?. Coral? if so what kind)
3. How much Live rock do you have? (in approx pounds)

 

[Reefdweller]

It is very unusual in a reef tank with sufficient live rock and live sand for ammonia levels to rise significantly unless there is a major source of decaying matter (ie. dead fish). How did you cycle your tank? If you did not use any live rock or live sand that already had a biological filter (live bacteria-nitrosomonas & nitrobacter) or seed the tank with live bacteria, then this is the problem. Only without sufficient biological filtration is it possible for feeding to cause an increase in ammonia. However, if you seeded the tank properly, there must be another source of the problem.

 

[Cheetos]

The brown stuff is common in newer tanks like yours. Probably cyano or diatioms which should clear up with less feeding, water changes, and good circulation. I went through it for about a month when my tank was 3 months old.

 

[Bear]

Ok, what i have in the tank:

Fish: Pair of mature clowns, green chomis,yellow tail damsel.

Critters: Brittal star, Cleaner shrimp, assorted crabs, snails, sand star fish

Corals: mixture of sps, and lps, all small frags, several zoos, green tree small, devils hand, assorted mushrooms, Zenia, rock of yellow pollips about two fist size.

Rock: about 125lb of live rock, and good amount of live sand mixed with crushed coral.

When I started I had at least 1/2 the rock and less than 1/2 of the sand. I cycled the tank with a piece of raw shrimp.
So I'm feeding the fish using flakes, cyclapeas, and home made mix from one of the meetings.
I think i was overfeeding but have found other problems. I'm going to be brief only because i wrote this already and lost it! lol

Checked overflow - found water low with algie blocking the holes - removed algie and increase in flow was noticed! Checked the return of the ocean motion and found that to be more than 50% blockage. Remove that and flow was increased.

Right there is a major problem, don't you think? Both of thoses would decrease my gals per hour rate. Then I noticed the temp up, so i made sure it was at 79, then I was noticing that red stuff was growing here and there on some sps, so i cleaned all that away. Then i noticed this group of strings, about 6 and a and it looked like little specks were floating about the strings. I went to remove it and when out of water it was like a jelly substance surround the string and the specks were inside the jelly, so that was good to get that out. Now that i did all that thing are better. I think the flow was the key as well as temp. What do all of you think. Did I answer everything? Sorry for the slow response, crazy work right now. Oh, the brand of Testing is Salefert.............Sorry for the spelling guys

Thanks again guys, its great to know that other reefers are there for you. Thanks again.........Oh, and thanks Walt for watching over me and prompting me to respond.....................good friend

And if you guys can let me know what you think of how I'm thinking about what has happened, that would be great

Jerry

Oh, does anyone know what the red algie could be, is it a bacteria? Thankks

 

[Cheetos]

Cyanobacteria most likely.

 

[Reefdweller]

The reduced flowthrough could be part of the problem, but if you are getting alot of cyanobateria you probably don't have enough flow in the tank. DO you have a couple of powerheads in the tank to keep water flowing across the rock and coral. You should not be having a problem with ammonia with the amount of LR unless there is a major source of decaying matter.

One other thing- Do you have a skimmer on the tank. If not yoru bioload will be much greater and this combined with reduced flow could cause a problem.

Hope this helps.

 

[deadhermitwalkin]

Rodi unit?

Do you have an Rodi unit? After every water change with my well water I always got brown algae. After Rodi not as much, if any. Also if you "think" your over feeding...Then guess what?? You probable are.

Good luck....Better scary stuff awaits!!

 

[Triggerfish]

i'm just going to focus on the NH3 problem you're having now.
there have been some good points mentioned already.
**first things first.
whenever a test of a water parameter is giving a result that is somewhat confusing to what should be expected; always test against 1 or even 2 more test reference sources. I would start there.
you have 125lbs LR along with LS and almost no fish load. yet ammonia readings. was all the LR cycled?

the tanks fish load is very light
how much are you actually feeding, i mean were are you pouring food in all over the place throughout the day?

you say you cycled the tank with raw shrimp.. why would you need to do that if you added 60# LR & sand upon setup, was that Walt's idea? did the rock come from Walt and are you sure it was Live?

also, the flow really shouldn't be directly related to your elevated NH3 level.

 

[waltm]

None of the rock came from me. He started with 40lbs dry base rock and added live rock from several BRS members over the course of a few months.

Any recomendatations from me have come with the added prompting of "ask in the forum for other opinions" and "get a book" as I am in no way, shape or form an expert on any of this.

 

[Triggerfish]

ok, hence the reason for kick starting the cycle.
so there's about 85# or so of LR with nitrifying bacteria well established. i'm going to presume it was all pre-cycled.

at what point did you notice the cycle complete..i.e NO2 rised and zeroed out? at what point did you notice NH3 levels rise again?

 

[Bear]

Reefdweller, I have close loop with 4 jets and one return, plus the water pumping through system, using a mag 1800 for that and that is too large but I'm changing very soon and adding 150g sump which is already heated and salted. I was planning to do a water change first then start to slowly swap water till both tanks are the same. I do have a skimmer EV-120 AquaC and when i add the 150g sump I have a EV-180 that i will install. While I'm talking about the 150g, could you give me some pointers on what is the best way to mix the water from my display tank to the 150g till they are the same. I was thinking of swapping 10g at a time, maybe once in the morning, then once at night. After about a week I was going to connect both tanks together and have a slow drain and return for the next couple of days then full bore to normal operation. What do you think about that? Any other ideas?
Thanks for your help

Deadhermitwalking, I do have rodi water, and won't put anything else in the tank and have cut back on the feeding
Thanks

Triggerfish, when i started I'm really not sure how much lr was in there and how much base rock was there. But when I put the shrimp in and after a few days got the ammonia spike, then dropped I felt that the tank was cycled and think that is ok. I have lots of little critters crawling around, snails popping out of nowhere and all kinds of cool things going on. In my last post I stated the elivated temp. the flow problem and the ammonia was dropping to normal. I have a feeling its a little of everything being out of wack, including the overfeeding, and at this point insuffient light. So I addressed all the problems and the only thing i can see that I'm not sure of is what is giving me the cyanobateria problem. I have removed most of it and I'm watching closely to see what happens. Since all the corrections everything is looking good. As far as the ammonia spike, I think it was that nest of hair like worms that had a jelly substance on it, but really don't know. I hope I answered your questions ok, I do take all the info given seriously and want to thank you too.
2nd response triggerfish, Well it was about three months ago that the cycle was complete, and just last week that I noticed that increase in ammonia. I'm only assuming that since everything has been going somewhat ok that the tank is cycled. What to you think?
Thanks again

Thanks to all..................Oh, and I may have stated some things a bit wrong lol, but beleive me its all my doings lol, don't get any wrong immpressions of Walt, although modest he is quite up on things.

Thanks again everyone, if theres anything at all you can add, I welcome it!!

 

[Triggerfish]

my last post I stated the ammonia was dropping to normal.

i think i missed reading that. make sure to check NO2 if that's zero then
sounds like your good for now.

it helps that you have someone to guide you through the setup process like Walt..sounds like he's giving you good setup info.
Best of luck.
oh ya..no expert here either..just remembering from some of the ten-thousand mistakes i have already made

 

[sw300galma]

oh ya..no expert here either..just remembering from some of the ten-thousand mistakes i have already made

You only made 10,000, that's better than me....



Bear hows the setup doing?

 

[Bear]

Hey guys thanks for all your help!! It's great to have someone you can get some imput from and even though you guys arn't experts, you are certainly more knowledgabe than I am, and in my school of hard knocks I find it pays to access the achives of others school of hard knocks, lol

Again thanks to all
Jerry

Till the next problem