Water Levels
- Thread starter sparty059
- Start date
sparty059
Active Member
haha, well, I will continue to suffer for the sake of my tank. And if I suffer, well... you all suffer too!
. Anyway, I will wait until the end of the weekend and see where my levels are... and will probably look to get some CUC come Monday or Tuesday as long as levels zero out. I will also be doing a mediocre water change, not a 20% just because I don't have the Brute can yet and I don't necessarily have the time to do that as well. So I will probably do a 15 gallon water change which is right around 13% water change. We'll see what happens though! I must say, the excitement is getting a bit overwhelming!
daking
Member
I know what you mean. I rounding off my 4th week if the cycle and all tests are reading what they should accept the ammonia which us at .25ppm. I think mine is due to adding more live rock and then ghost feeding. Nonetheless I trying like you to be patient so that I start off in the right foot. After Spending so much money I want to make sure everything is done right and no need to shortcut now. Good luck and let me know how the water change helps.
florida joe
Well-Known Member
Quote:
My ammonia has already spiked. It was at 4 possibly even 6. I shouldn't really have a spike though since a great amount of rock I added was live rock. I also added live sand so the ammonia shouldn't really spike. The only reason I can imagine it did would be from some of the die off from the dead rock and then from some of the sponge that was exposed to air during the trasportation. Other than that, the spike should and did only last for a short period.
Quote:
Can you help me understand a few points you make ? Why is there no chance of a ammonia reading when you add live rock ? Then you say there is die off from dead rock. What do you consider a short period of time for an ammonia spike
My ammonia has already spiked. It was at 4 possibly even 6. I shouldn't really have a spike though since a great amount of rock I added was live rock. I also added live sand so the ammonia shouldn't really spike. The only reason I can imagine it did would be from some of the die off from the dead rock and then from some of the sponge that was exposed to air during the trasportation. Other than that, the spike should and did only last for a short period.
Quote:
Can you help me understand a few points you make ? Why is there no chance of a ammonia reading when you add live rock ? Then you say there is die off from dead rock. What do you consider a short period of time for an ammonia spike
sparty059
Active Member
I had added dead rock from the very start of this whole process. Which was about 2 months into this. The die off from the dead rock had already provided a bit of an ammonia spike. Just recently I added 50 pounds of LR to my 125g tank. The rock was fully cured, so it shouldn't have triggered any ammonia spike, at least none that would provide such a high spike in ammonia. I spoke with my LFS and they informed me the temporary spike (one week) was most likely the result of sponge die off. Had the sponge not been on the rock I purchased the ammonia would have never spiked, or spiked to a "6" reading. So, again, if you purchase fully cured LR, then you shouldn't see a change in your Ammonia levels since the rock wouldn't have any die off. Since I had dead rock that I added to the tank months before, then the die off already triggered the spike, and had already come back down or was on it's way down when I added the LR.
florida joe
Well-Known Member
Thanks for taking the time to explain, can you just clarify something’s for me? What is your definition of dead rock (you started you cycle with dead rock ?) and live rock? You state that the rock you added from your lFS was fully cured I am assuming you mean fully cured in the LFS but when you transported it home it was out of water and you then had some die-off. But you state later in the post that if you purchase fully cured live rock you should not see an ammonia spike
sparty059
Active Member
My definition of dead rock is rock that once had bacteria and critters in it but have been left out of water for such a long period of time everything has been killed off. Yes, there will be die off from the store to the tank. However, it shouldn't be so significant that it'll cause what uncured rock would cause. A little jump is inevitable with live rock due to the die off, but there shouldn't be any reason for an ammonia spike so great that it would be a cause for concern. For example, if I have a tank that is up and running with fish, inverts and everything in it, should I add LR, it shouldn't cause a spike so great that it will kill fish and inverts. It should cause a slight hic-up in the ammonia but nothing that a slight water change can't resolve.
EDIT - Also, I had forgotten to mention that I had also started my tank off with Live Sand to help kick off a cycle, and help seed the dead rock.
EDIT - Also, I had forgotten to mention that I had also started my tank off with Live Sand to help kick off a cycle, and help seed the dead rock.
florida joe
Well-Known Member
I think I understand what you are saying. Correct me if I am wrong. You did not use the dead rock to start your cycle. You feel that even if the live rock was transferred from your local fish store to a bucket of saltwater and then put into your tank that the time the rock was out of the water going from LFS to bucket and then bucket to your tank could have introduced air into the sponges if any were present and they would eventually die
sparty059
Active Member
That is correct. I did not trigger the cycle with the dead rock, but with the live sand. The sponge had air introduced to it therefore it did start the death pattern for the sponge. Therefore days down the line of the LR being added to the tank the sponge had died and caused the high, yet short ammonia spike. That spike has now balanced and is now back down under .25... possibly even at 0 today. I have yet to check the levels.
sparty059
Active Member
So, I have been deciding to leave my lights off until my levels balance. So, I took a look at my tank this evening and noticed what some had thought was a yellow sponge start spreading. Some had mentioned they had thought it was a sun coral... and I'm happy to say... You're correct! I don't know what it was but after 2 weeks of being in the tank it has decided to finally sprout! Light seems to make it curl in for cover but once the light turns off this coral really loves to spread its wings! Take a look... he's rather big... I tried the soda bottle top feeding method and well frankly I just ghost fed my tank so yet again I will see another ammonia spike
. Oh well though... I suppose you live and you learn...
florida joe
Well-Known Member
Look into a sea squirt to feed your sun coral
sparty059
Active Member
So an update for everyone following this thread:
Last night I purchased 30 snails (ten of three different kinds) and two peppermint shrimp. I acclimated them with the drip method for two hours and have added them all to the tank. For a solid week I had 0's across the board. Today I woke up and wanted to just double check to make sure everything is working well. My levels didn't seem to please me, but before I did anything rash I wanted to know are these levels normal after adding a small CUC?
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Somewhere in between 5 and 10. (I can't read the oranges very well).
So what does this mean? I am counting on doing a water change sometime this week. However, I don't intend on mxing for one to two days to start. Like I said I don't have any fish in there right now so maybe I'll mix 15% for three hours or so and then do the swap. Should the water change resolve the issue, or is this just the tank rebalancing since new things have been added to it? I was under the impression that once something new is added to the tank then the tank will have its levels jump slightly and then back down after it's used to the new additions.
Any input would be helpful. Thanks all!
Last night I purchased 30 snails (ten of three different kinds) and two peppermint shrimp. I acclimated them with the drip method for two hours and have added them all to the tank. For a solid week I had 0's across the board. Today I woke up and wanted to just double check to make sure everything is working well. My levels didn't seem to please me, but before I did anything rash I wanted to know are these levels normal after adding a small CUC?
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Somewhere in between 5 and 10. (I can't read the oranges very well).
So what does this mean? I am counting on doing a water change sometime this week. However, I don't intend on mxing for one to two days to start. Like I said I don't have any fish in there right now so maybe I'll mix 15% for three hours or so and then do the swap. Should the water change resolve the issue, or is this just the tank rebalancing since new things have been added to it? I was under the impression that once something new is added to the tank then the tank will have its levels jump slightly and then back down after it's used to the new additions.
Any input would be helpful. Thanks all!
flower
Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380663/water-levels/20#post_3317850
So an update for everyone following this thread:
Last night I purchased 30 snails (ten of three different kinds) and two peppermint shrimp. I acclimated them with the drip method for two hours and have added them all to the tank. For a solid week I had 0's across the board. Today I woke up and wanted to just double check to make sure everything is working well. My levels didn't seem to please me, but before I did anything rash I wanted to know are these levels normal after adding a small CUC?
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Somewhere in between 5 and 10. (I can't read the oranges very well).
So what does this mean? I am counting on doing a water change sometime this week. However, I don't intend on mxing for one to two days to start. Like I said I don't have any fish in there right now so maybe I'll mix 15% for three hours or so and then do the swap. Should the water change resolve the issue, or is this just the tank rebalancing since new things have been added to it? I was under the impression that once something new is added to the tank then the tank will have its levels jump slightly and then back down after it's used to the new additions.
Any input would be helpful. Thanks all!
Your tank does have to rebalance but .5 is pretty high for 30 snails in a 125g tank. I would do the water change.
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/380663/water-levels/20#post_3317850
So an update for everyone following this thread:
Last night I purchased 30 snails (ten of three different kinds) and two peppermint shrimp. I acclimated them with the drip method for two hours and have added them all to the tank. For a solid week I had 0's across the board. Today I woke up and wanted to just double check to make sure everything is working well. My levels didn't seem to please me, but before I did anything rash I wanted to know are these levels normal after adding a small CUC?
pH - 8.2
Ammonia - .5
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - Somewhere in between 5 and 10. (I can't read the oranges very well).
So what does this mean? I am counting on doing a water change sometime this week. However, I don't intend on mxing for one to two days to start. Like I said I don't have any fish in there right now so maybe I'll mix 15% for three hours or so and then do the swap. Should the water change resolve the issue, or is this just the tank rebalancing since new things have been added to it? I was under the impression that once something new is added to the tank then the tank will have its levels jump slightly and then back down after it's used to the new additions.
Any input would be helpful. Thanks all!
Your tank does have to rebalance but .5 is pretty high for 30 snails in a 125g tank. I would do the water change.
spanko
Active Member
the additional bio load to a new tank with the addition of all the snails and shrimp is to be expected. The important thing here is how long it takes to drive the ammonia back down. If it happens quickly then you are in good shape, your tank is cycling as it should. The ability of the nitrifying bacteria to increase population to account for the additional waster being generated is exactly what you want to happen.
sparty059
Active Member
Ok, so as Meowzer had mentioned she never had this ammonia spike problem when introducing new guys into the tank. But as I had heard and spanko mentioned the tank adjusts to the new fish/critters. I decided to test things out again tonight and check out the ammonia levels out and much to my amusement the levels are at ZERO again! Hooray! Just to double check with everything... I will be leaving town fairly soon and I want to know everything I need before I leave. Because no one knows how to use my RO/DI unit I've decided I will get 4 jugs and fill them up with RO/DI water for whoever needs to do the top offs. Do I need to feed any of the peppermint shrimp or anything? I want to make sure incase I might not do everything right. I have all my lights on the timers a heater going to keep it steady at 80-81 degrees. Skimmer running... anything I might be missing that I should take into consideration?