HELP!!! Things are going sideways and bad!

[daniella3d]

If your nitrates are now high and they are usualy near 0, this means that probably your ammonia went really high for a while and then was converted to nitrates.

Originally Posted by ScubaSteve

Yeah, tell me about it. My ammonia is always zero, that's why I was was worried when it spiked after this filter ordeal. I can't fit any more rock in the tank, so I'm pretty good there. After a large water change and some time this is back down to zero, though nitrates are still high. I typically keep these near 0 ppm as well.

I ran skimmer less for close to a year without any issues. Since I'm moving my tank towards being more SPS oriented I have since switched to skimming and it makes a HUGE difference.

[ScubaSteve]

Sure was! Good thing I've got a ton of really good rock in the tank, huh? Well, that and a nice big water change.

Yes, there was a spike in the ammonia but that really wasn't the concern to me as I knew the rocks could handle it. It was more the fact that the ammonia and nitrates spiked in a matter of hours AND the HOB filter was putting hydrogen sulphide laden water into the system. Ammonia spikes typically mean somebody dead or dyin'; hydrogen sulphide can be the killer.