Ok guys major problem, please let me know what your suggestions are..

[bobothewizard]

Ok let me start out by giving some insight on what is going on with my tanks. About 2 weeks ago I left a message here about the tank i was getting and how to go about switching it. I was saying i was switching from a 55 gallon to a 180 gallon. Well the 180 gallon was a little to big for where i live and i went with a 120 gallon instead. The reason for me switching tanks was the Ammonia level was extremely high, as in 1.0 - 1.5 !! Now the reason for the ammonia spike could be 2 factors from what i think.
1. The amount of fish for the tank was extremely high. I had 1 yellow tang, 1 hippo tang, 1 powder blue tang and 5 clownfish packed into this little tank. This is a big problem. Kids, do not try this at home.
2. I had a refugium filled with culpera, please excuse my spelling, it stinks but you get the picture. The problem with this culpera was that it got soo thick in the refugium that the lower end of it, the stuff that attaches itself to the sand, was dying from lack of light. Now im not really sure if this will cause a ammonia spike, but I think it would from the die off.
Now when i changed tanks, i discarded all the water from the 55 gallon because it had high amounts of ammonia BUT i kept the sand. Now what i did was take all of the culpera out of the refugium but im not sure if i got all of the decayed stuff from the sand.
What this whole question boils down to is this.
Why is my ammonia level still extremly high in my 120 gallon tank now that the water was all changed and made fresh? How can i get rid of this high level of ammonia?
All of your comments are welcomed..
Thanks in advance..

 

[m1rodrig]

Sounds like you are recycling.Is it still getting higher?Is the level higher than it was in your 55.
What is your nitrite and nitrate at.

 

[400galloncharlie]

Also, what kind of water did you fill up the 120 with? Was it RO water or water that was treated with Prime or the like and left sit for as long as possible? Many water sources have fairly high amounts of ammonia.

 

[m1rodrig]

You could try adding a bottle of cycle and some ammolok.The cycle will add bacteria that will break down the ammonia.The amolok will make the ammonia non toxic so it doesn't kill your fish.It will remain in your system and test positive.This is the only quick solution I can think of without moving your fish somewhere else,if you do have somewhere else to put them I would definately do that until you get your system under
control.

 

[bobothewizard]

There are no detectable levels for nitrates in the water. Nitrites, havent checked those yet but i will do that tonight. The ammonia level in the tank was that same as it was in the 55 gallon.
Also the water added was regular water from my spicket which comes from a well system. Ive never had any problems with this water in the past and ive been using it for a good while now.

 

[jumpfrog]

You may have already done this, but just to eliminate another possible, have your lfs check your water or try another test kit just to verify your results.
That check for nitrites will also give you some clue. If you detect any nitrites at all you know you're making progress. If nitrites are zero and ammonia still high, you're early on in the cycle and you can give it some time.
Good Luck!

 

[blondenaso1]

I think the problem lies in the well water. God only knows what is in that. Not only can it be packed with tons of nutrients, but probably a nice array of heavy metals. I would definately have that water tested and would consider spending a few bucks for a RO unit.

 

[bobothewizard]

Im not really sure about the well water, ive been using it for like 2 years in this fish tank. Then all of a sudden.... ****CRASH**** i think it was because we kept adding fish... One good thing, though was we didnt loose any fish, lost alot of snails though in the old tank. Also lost my bubble coral and sunburst coral

 

[bobothewizard]

Ok i checked the levels last night again, nitrites were high and ammonia was still high. Is this tank cycling? Also wanted to mention, when i transferred tanks, i had to add about another 60 pounds of arraganite sand, not live sand but i seeded it with the live sand from the old tank.

 

[susiepan]

I would tend to agree with Blonde...The Well Water could be catching up to you, I see that your in PA...Im upstate NY, and if you were to look at anything that has been consistantly around the well water up here, you would see that over time the mineral deposits get so bad, the items are un-cleanable....My Grandmothers tea-pot, cant be cleaned, it has to be thrown out...
Well water is rough stuff, and that may not be your problem right at this instint, but may try getting deionized to add to your tank, or at least get distilled for top offs and such..
It does sound like you are going through a cycle...Good advise to take the fish out of your tank before you loose them....
Good luck with it, hope all goes well..
~Susie...

 

[mal]

It sounds to me like there were way too many fish in the 55, thus the ammo build up. The bio-filter could not keep up with the amount of waste they were generating. Then when you switched out tanks, I think you started a re-cycle as stated before. You should see a rise in nitrite, the nitrate, and the ammo will go down. You can try to bind the ammo with an additve until the bio-filter builds up. Hopefully the fish will be ok, you know how sensitive tangs can be. You may get an ick outbreak if they get stressed. Watch 'em, and good luck.

 

[bobothewizard]

If i put in ammolok to stabalize the ammonia will that screw up my cycle?

 

[karvis]

you have no reason to cry. my amm is 8ppm my trate and trite were close to 1ppm!!!

 

[mal]

It might mess with the cycle IF you are in a new cycle. If you already have a population of established bacteria, hopefully it will just bind the ammo until the bio filter can build up to a good level to begin to handle the current bio load. If that makes any sense. If it is a mini cycle, you are just waiting for the bio filter to catch up with the bio-load. If it is a new cycle, it will prolong the cycle and may even prevent it. Is there somewhere you can store your fish, a buddies tank or the LFS, until your tank is stabilized? That would be the best solution IMO. I hope I made some sense in my rambling.

 

[crystain]

Sort of an off topic question...
Do you remove caulerpa periodically from the refugium? I thought this is how you remove nitrates from the system. If it has grown so thick that it is dying at the bottom, why not pull some out?
I'm not trying to say that this is the root of the ammonia problem.