all of a sudden ...boom ...amonia!!!!

[reefwars]

humm well kinda ****ed tonight , being bored as i was testing my live rock bin for amonia and my new little coffee table tank i figured i would do all the tanks, as i did the zoa tank it came up as 1.0 .........like what the @#$#@#$
ill admit after so long test dont happen that often especially for amonia as ive never had it in this tank.so i broke out the test kit and did the full on test and the only two things out are calcium at 520!! which is really highcompared to the usual 460-480 it is. also like stated the amonia was at 1.0

i dont add livestock to this tank minus zoas them selves but i did do a trade for a rock anemone a while back that never showed it face again after being added, ive had nems die before in my tank but a 1.0 seems rather high even though its been about 3 weeks since ive lost the nem.all fish( two cinn clowns,snowflake eel,matted filefish) seem as fine as usual , so only for i tested with it and i repeated the test and i dont think it is the test kit as i test the liverock bin reguarly plus a couple new additions like the roomates tank.

so ill be moving the fish to my holding tank untill i figure out what happened and parameters are right in the morning but its kinda weird because i never add stuff to this tank and this nem is small.ive also noticed some cyano in my tank alot more than whats been popping up here and there

if it helps ive been battlong a aiptasia problem in my 33g which is the tank im talking about ive got roughly 300 heads and rising hence the file fish. i regret to say it seems like my filefish may have a taste for zoas unlike my last one..... ive yet to see him actually eat any zoo's but im down a head of RPE in about 15 mins. it was there then i seen him suck something in from across the room when i got there a head of RPE was missing....i only had two so ...???

also battling a long hair algae problem its just about wiped out but it seems the tonga branch i added a little wile ago atracts the algae alot easier than the other rock in my tank which has none....also note this tank is very small and runs off no ro/di or any skimmer /fuge/pellets...anything ??

tank has been running over two years and ive never really seen anything out of whack on this tank, ill admit the cyano is a telling sign to me that things are out of equilibrium, the nem is the last thing to die and only thing ive been concerned with besides the aiptasia


yup.....reefing...gotta love it lol

[reefwars]

kinda glad i found this tonight as the aiptasia problem im having has had me considering housing the fish/eel and zoas in my holding tank ...all but the file fish and cut down on feeding frozen food and let him do a faster job.ive also added roughly 20 baby nudis that i have raised but im realllllly skeptical on how fast a job they can do.it seems they have alot of weaknesses in a full reef besides breeding lol

[Myka]

What test kit are you using? Do you use Prime in that tank or any other dechlorinator/ammonia detoxifier? Could list everything that is added to this tank?

[reefwars]

Originally Posted by Myka

What test kit are you using? Do you use Prime in that tank or any other dechlorinator/ammonia detoxifier? Could list everything that is added to this tank?

im just using a api test kit for amonia and i do use prime for my tapwater.

here are the only things that ever hit my tank on a regular basis:

mostly foods as the only thing i dose for is calcium but havent had to dose in a long time when i do i use kent liquid calcium or purple up.my calcium is usually in the 460 mark.

i add zooplex,coral excel,and microvert 2x a week ...3 for zooplex
i add one half a teaspoon of black powder
flake,brine,mysis,oyster eggs for frozen


here are some water parameters before my water change late last night

temp: 79
sg:1.025
no3: 5ppm
nitrites:0
phos: 1.0
amonia: 1.0

i have a test for alk but havent used it since my last one ran out so it hasnt been tested in a while.

the tank is a 33g it runs with no skimmer just a hob filter with some rubble,carbon.it has about50-60 lbs of liverock plus around a 3-4" sandbed.

the livestock are a pair of cinnamon clowns,a matted filefish,and a snowflake eel.ive been thinking about the eels pvc piping i have , it runs through all the rock and around the back so he has caves through out the hole tank that were buried in sand and rock, kinda gives him more places to explore. now i got to thinking about how much crap gets pulled into those pipes like uneaten food and stuff so for my new tank any piping will have slices or big holes drilled into them to keep them clean

i did lose a rock anemone a few weeks ago theres so much stuff in my little tank that once he dissappeared there was no finding him and all my rock especiallt the tongabranch is held together with zipties to keep the eel from toppling anything lol

tank is completely full for coral mostly zoas and palys but theres some gorgs,rics,monty cap,misc sps mixed in there as well

i use reefers best for salt and usually mix it then plan to use it for the next week but since im down to a few small tanks i find my water is mixing for weeks before used up




i have some ammo lock do you think i should use it i dont really like adding stuff like that to my tank though??

the fish are being moved to the other 33g today untill i get it figured out and stable again

[reefwars]

if i can i would rather not move the eel thats why i ask about the ammo lock

[Myka]

The Prime will detoxify ammonia. Read the label for cautionary advice and dose more. The API is actually my preferred test kit because it is a salicylate kit which only tests toxic ammonia and is compatible with ammonia detoxifiers. How old is the kit?

That is A LOT of food to be adding to the tank! Personally, I'm not a fan of liquid foods unless they are from nutrient lowering systems (like Zeovit, Fauna Marin, etc). You could try dropping the liquid foods (Zooplex, Microvert), and see if you notice any changes in the tank. I think you would only see positive changes. These foods are probably the major contributor to the elevated phosphate - 1 ppm is A LOT of phosphate. Would help to lower nitrate as well.

Coral Excel is a decent product, though I think it is possible to achieve the same results without using it.

What are your SPS colors like? Brightly colored throughout, brown with colored tips, generally rich colors, generally pastel colors...?