Ammonia spike! Feeding? Other problem?

[runner]

Howdy. I am fairly new to the marine world and have questions...Tank stats: 30G (36Hx12Dx18H), 50lb LR, 4" DSB, Eheim 2217 (with bio filtration), 3xNO Tubes (2x10K, 1xsuper actinic). The live rock came from an established tank and is covered by purple coraline algae.
Occupants: 4" maroon clown, 3" clarkii clown, large brittle star, two large snails, two scarlett hermit crabs.
The initial setup was 12 weeks ago. I added sand and live rock 9 weeks ago. The tank cycled and settled down 5 weeks ago. Fish have been in for a little more than a month.
FEEDING
I have been feeding about 1/2 cube of frozen Formula I each day. I normally chop up the cube into small pieces while it is frozen, thaw, then feed them to the fish one at a time (trying not to let as little as possible hit the sand). Is this an acceptable amount of food? Am I feeding it in the right manner?
AMMONIA QUESTION
I have been having a persistant low-level ammonia reading for the last two weeks (~0.5-1.0). It seems to vary a little from day to day. The nitrites are always 0 and the nitrate is around 25 ppm. Any ideas as to why the ammonia won't settle back down? I have yet to find any dying critters that could be the cause. Possibly too much food?
The maroon clown digs a little more into the sand bed in the back-left corner every day. It is only 1" deep in the middle of her "nest". Could this be causing a problem?
Thanks!
-Scott

 

[reeftanknewbie]

I am new to this and not sure. How long did you wait between your amonia being zero and adding fish? Is there any die off on the rock? what is your ph and ak? Are any of your fish sick? I am hoping a shark will jum in and help you out here. Good luck and keep us up to date

 

[runner]

The ammonia rise came 2+ weeks after the addition of the fish. Every critter looks healthy. I have seen nothing dead on the rocks. I different feather duster-like critter pokes out its "head" every day.
The only dead thing I have seen is a pod drifting by in the water. I only noticed it because I was up close looking at some scratches.
Any clues out there as to what might cause my problem? Could the digging maroon clown be guilty?

 

[reeftanknewbie]

I don't think the digging clown could be the problem as i said I am new to this too. I am not sure about the over feeding I really don't think it is that. What are your PH and Alk readings? Where is the tank located? What is around it? How long are your lights on a day? What bio matter are you using in your filter?
A shark or someone with alot more exp help this guy please...

 

[runner]

The clueless reading the more clueless.
pH is typically ~8.2
Alk is 10 to 11
Temp is 80 to 82 degrees F
10k tube on 10 hours/day
10k and actinic tube on 8 hours/day (seperate timer)
no direct sunlight
Tank is located in basement
Nothing but a wall around it.
Eheim 2217 has the ceramic hex-rings as a prefilter, the porous bio-cylinders as a middle filter, and a bag of activated carbon and filter floss as the final filter. All-in-all, this setup should handle ammonia.
*SIGH* Perhaps I'll break down the filter and see if a 12" bristle worm crawled in there and died.
And clean out the prefilter while I am at it...

 

[reeftanknewbie]

Sounds Like everything is right. Now that there is s shark involved he will be able to help you more. And i should have thought of the test kit but i didn't well good luck and I hope everything works out for you. Thanks jwtrojan44 for comming into help.

 

[bang guy]

IMO your sandbed should be able to handle the bioload of those fish unless you don't have enough water flow. What kind of water circulation does your aquarium have, how many powerheads and what type?
On an unrelated side note, you may eventually have problems with those two Clowns getting along. The Maroon will probably win any fights.
Guy

 

[nacl-h2o]

What is your water source? I would have my source water tested by the LFS aswell as the tank water. Some water sources can have ammonia in them. And this could be the problem.
If it's not the test or the source well.....
If the cycle was to light, your tank might be playing catch up to meet the needs of the new bio-load created by the animals you added. If so it should be ending soon. I 've seen miner ammonia problems in tanks when animals are first added after the cycle, but it usually only last 2 to 4 weeks. I've actually seen tanks recycle after the animals were added, because the cycle didn't create anough bacteria to handle the bio-load put on it when the animals were added. But yours shouldn't go that far the ammo would be higher by now.

 

[runner]

For circulation, I have the Eheim 2217 feeding a 1/2" PVC spray bar that runs across 80% of the back of the tank. I cut alternating holes to face out/slightly up and down towards the rock. In addition, I have a RIO 180 in one corner that faces up and provides some surface agitation. The draw tube of the Eheim has an overflow to keep surface film from forming. After everything settles, I may try removing some filter media. I don't really want to do that, though, unless I get a skimmer. And I don't see a skimmer in the plan anytime soon. I like the idea of a wet/dry or cannister better for FOWLR because of the quicker response time to the additional bio-load caused by a dead critter. Plus, I am planning on a 15G sump/refugium with macro to take the place of my Eheim 2217. Soon. Well. Somewhat soon.
The two clowns have been in another tank together for three years. The maroon bullys the Clarkii; however, he never causes any damage. I am willing to give up the Clarkii, anyway, since he took a chunk out of my finger last night. When I jerked back, the edge of the tank caused a gash in my wrist that came close to needing stitches. And to think I've been worried about the maroon attacking my hand.
The water source has 0 ammonia and 0 nitrate. I initially set up the tank with tap water, but have been using RO/DI water from my LFS for changes. I also have 0 iron and 0 copper from my tap. I plan to check for phosphates and lead, too. If that comes back negative, I'll probably use tap water in the future. The local guy I got my live rock from used tap all the time and did not have an algae problem. I am just being cautious.
My initial cycle was pretty light. I never saw the nitrites spike over 1.5 ppm. I will admit I went for about 3 days without testing during that spike, so it could have been higher.
The two clowns do not appear stressed. Other than a torn fin on the maroon, they seem to be doing fine. The maroon's digging habits caused a rock to fall on him, it seems. He shredded a fin last week that is healing nicely now. I probably should have anchored the rock. I just didn't want to waste half the area of my sand bed with useless buried rock.
I'll just ride through another week or two and keep an eye on things. Thanks for the advice.

 

[new]

could the problem be slight over crowding that is just taking a little longer for the tank bacteria to over come? as a newbie myself just asking this as a 1" of fish per 5 gal water rule saying 6" of fish with the possibility being just needs a bit more time to build bacteria up to handle the ammonia cycle.

 

[runner]

It could be a slight overcrowding. The two clowns are fairly stocky. I think I'll change out the Clarkii for a small blennie or royal gramma this weekend. I am not really fond of the Clarkii now, anyway. Since he took a chunk out of my finger, he actually charges me and thumps the glass when I get too near his side of the tank. Nasty critter, he is.