high amonia in new tank

[hopping]

I decided to set up the 150 so my fish would have more room to play cuz my goby got kinda aggressive. There are no fish in the tank yet I’ve had it set up for 5 days
PH 8.2
Ammonia 1.5
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Calcium 450
Salinity .l024
I only have @ 15lb of lr in the tank right now. And @ 50 crushed shell on the bottom it was use but cleaned. Any ideas as to why the ammonia is so high. :notsure:

 

[hopping]

bump

 

[larryndana]

sounds like its cycling, i'd do a water change to get your ammonia below .5
If your ammonia spikes to high it will kill most or all of the alive stuff in your live rock. this will create more die off and more ammonia, making your cycle longer.

 

[hopping]

thanks, ya think 10% is ok or should i do more. do you have any idea what could cause it to get so high with nothing in it

 

[larryndana]

i'd do a 30 to 40% change and test tomorrow and be ready to make another change
either you had die off from your live rock, or it came from your sand.