Quarantine: ammonia problems

[syncro]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

That is strange. I never ever had any ammonia problem in quarantine. I use a 20 gallons with a few good pieces of liverock and never a trace of ammonia in this. I use good porous Totoka liverock that I take from either my main tank or my nano (fishless) that is completely cured and no ammonia. I don't even do water change that much, only once a month when I have fish in quarantine or once every 2 weeks if there are some nitrates.

Perhaps my sponge filter is not sufficient. I'll get some additional rock and seed it in my sump.

[daniella3d]

Problem is you need to have some good liverock already cured and seeded before starting the quarantine. Can you get some cured liverock from your main tank temporary in there?

Originally Posted by syncro

Perhaps my sponge filter is not sufficient. I'll get some additional rock and seed it in my sump.

[Reefer Rob]

When I used to quarantine, I kept a mesh bag of filter media in a high flow area of my sump at all times. Before I'd go to the fish store I'd have water change water ready just in case I needed to set up a quarantine. I did this for both fish and corals.

[syncro]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

Problem is you need to have some good liverock already cured and seeded before starting the quarantine. Can you get some cured liverock from your main tank temporary in there?

I don't have much rock at the moment but will add some to my sump for the future. In the meantime, perhaps more water movement through the sponge with a mini-filter?

Originally Posted by Reefer Rob

When I used to quarantine, I kept a mesh bag of filter media in a high flow area of my sump at all times.

What type of filter media and how much?

[syncro]

Originally Posted by daniella3d

Is it possible that the product that you use to neutralize ammonia is still giving your a false reading?

Good idea. It is a Seachem Ammonia Alert badge that detects free ammonia. It is not affected by Seachem Prime or AmmoLock so I suspect it isn't affected by other ammonia binders like Aquavitro Aqua. I'll ask SeaChem.