ammonia spike!!!! HELP !!!!

[barnaclegirl]

Help !!! In the middle of an ammonia spike and not quite sure of what more I can do. I did a water change and that helped some but levels are still high. Currently running an ecosystem filter and no other mechanical filtration. I am ready to go the LFS to pick up a skimmer if that would help. My husband is out of town and usually deals with the mechanics of the tank so I'm not quite sure of what more to do. Any advice would be helpful
Thanks

 

[barnaclegirl]

there is nothing that i have found dead and we only feed everyother day a small amount of cyclopeze. The tank is a year and a half old.
thanks

 

[dad]

I would not go get a skimmer at this point neither.
You may get ready for another water change though?

 

[barnaclegirl]

Our tang was acting strange so I tested and the reading was really high. I vaccumed when i did the water change and i did notice quite a bit of what appeared to be waste in the sand bed. I will take a water sample with me to the LFS though to have them double check for me.

 

[dad]

By vacuuming: the readings will be high.
Kip, correct me if I am wrong.
The readings should settle down.
I would do another waterchange if it were me,

 

[beaslbob]

barnical:
If you ammonia is reading at the low level (which i doubt) it very could be the test kit. Something caused the spike and it very could be your waterchange and/or vacumming of the sand bed.
If the ammonia is at the lowest level of the test kit, then there may be nothing wrong except the test kit.
Ammonia should return to 0.0 in a matter of hours and not more than 2 days. That is unless there is something else going on like something died or killed the bacteria.
Here's what I would do:
stop feeding the fish until the ammonia goes down and watch nitrItes. If nitrItes spike continue non feeding until they also trend down. Both should be back to 0.0 in a week.
Add all the plant life you can get you hands on. macros and marine plants consume ammonia as well as nitrAtes and phosphates.
Settle back, x your fingers and toes and watch things settle down.

 

[barnaclegirl]

when i vaccumed the ammonia was already high and that was the only way that i could get a siphon to start. like i said before my husband usually takes care of the this stuff and i dont have to worry about it.

 

[barnaclegirl]

How big of a water change should i do, i just did 10 gallons, should i do more than that? I'm just so confused on the amount that i should change. I should of figured something like this would of happened when he left lol. i really am thankful for all the suggestions

 

[dad]

Like Kip asked:Why the vacuum? Do you have sand or gravel?
I am just guessing that you have gravel?
As we have said: get ready for another water change and do not panic,
BTW, the larger the water change the better.
Hope you are using good water etc?

 

[barnaclegirl]

i am using RO water to do the water changes how many gallons would you suggest? The bed is a mixture of crushed coral and sand i believe. also do you have any suggestions on starting a siphon other than the vaccum, i'm not to fond of the taste of saltwater.

 

[beaslbob]

Originally posted by barnaclegirl
i am using RO water to do the water changes how many gallons would you suggest? The bed is a mixture of crushed coral and sand i believe. also do you have any suggestions on starting a siphon other than the vaccum, i'm not to fond of the taste of saltwater.
I would suggest 0 gallons. Ammonia should be reduced 50% or more the first 24 hours if you do nothing.
Try placing the entire vacumm tube under water to fill it with water. then close off one end and take that end out of the tank. you should get a nice syphon started.

 

[dad]

It really depends on how high the amonia is? I would do a 50% water change. That would be around 35 gallons. You would do this at one time, not a 10 and then 10 etc.
I would also recomend making the water hours before you do the change. This helps the water to adjust(loss for explanation).
The combination of gravel and sand is a VERY bad idea.
I would let my husband know when he returns.
I would not siphon anymore also at this point.

 

[matti070]

one thing u could do is ferget the vaccum and water changes, try some buffer. i used them for about a month (still going) lowered ammonia from 1.5 to 0, and ph still needs some more buffer, nitrate from 1 to 0, nitrite from 1 to 0. so u see it really helps.
Matt

 

[barnaclegirl]

Just retested the ammonia, the levels are starting to fall some was at a .5 when i paniced earlier now at .25. After a trip to the LFS to get a filtration bag for some charcoal and an extra handful of calpura(sp) i hope that it will drop somemore. After reading the last post with an ammonia level of 1.5 maybe i paniced for nothing?
What is so bad about CC and sand mixed? Just wondering
Thank you for all of the suggestions and the help in my time of need.

 

[dad]

just something to think about: removing the CC is really not that hard to do.
Just strain the mixture(of sand and cc) through a screen. The sand is much smaller than most of the cc,
This will save most of your sand without having to buy more.
I would do this small amount at a time or move everything to a holding tank.

 

[barnaclegirl]

I retested once again this morning and the levels have dropped more overnight, they are just above 0 now but below .25.
I have sometime coming up in the next few weeks that i can start working on the bed, and try to remove as much CC as i can.
Dad what type of screen would you suggest, Home depot is not far from me.
thanks again

 

[barnaclegirl]

I do need to replace the screen on my patio door, the dogs decided to run through it, that would be perfect