Marella Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 My tank crash over a week ago. Managed to save quite a bit from it, and the livestock is happily boarding elsewhere. Recyling the tank now but my ammonia levels have not changed since the crash. I did a 50% water change on the weekend and took readings before and after. Both times ammonia was at 4ppm. Just seems odd that it would be the same after replacing half of the water. Any suggestions? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 (edited) few questions???Is this for salt water? If so How much live rock do you have? r u running any sort of canister filter? deep sand bed?? what r the other levels at? nitite.nitrate. kh How old is the system? how many fish? old test kits can give odd reagdings too Edited May 15, 2006 by finaddict Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marella Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 Sorry, it is SW, nothing left in the tank except for the sand and rock. It's a 95g with 150lbs rock in the tank, and 30 lbs rock in the sump. 1-2 inch sand bed. No canister filter. I bought an established system but then it crashed a few days after the move so it has bee cycling for the last week. Parameters: SG 1.023 Ammonia 4ppm Nitrite/trates both at 0ppm pH 8.4 dKH 14 Phos 0ppm The test kit reads to 12ppm and it is about 1 1/2 years old. Also just bought one of those ammonia alert do-hickeys that hang in the tank which shows it is at toxic levels (which start at 2ppm). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
finaddict Posted May 15, 2006 Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 huh my guess is something in the sand got disturbed.. I bought a 60g it only had 25-lbs rock and 2inch sand bed.. no crash here.. it had a canster which was trapping nitrates so thats why I ? that. keep up the partial WC evey few days. did you have any stony corals?? they can releae toxins and cause it to crash. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marella Posted May 15, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 15, 2006 There were a few LPS, but everything has been removed now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlkWolfe Posted May 17, 2006 Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 First thing to come to mind is releasing trapped "crap" from the sandbed. If the rock was transported poorly, dieoff from that as well. Have you tested your new sw for ammonia? It's also time for new test kits Just noticed something... Are you dosing alk or using a kalk reactor? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marella Posted May 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Haven't thought of testing the newly mixed sw for ammonia. I'll have to do that. Probably should get new test kits. I am dosing alk, no reactor. Should I be adding cycle or stability to the tank to help boost the bacteria population? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dunl Posted May 17, 2006 Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Check this post..... http://albertaaquatica.com/index.php?showtopic=7736&st=15 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marella Posted May 17, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 17, 2006 Thanks for the post. I really should get an RO/DI unit for my top off and mixing water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BlkWolfe Posted May 18, 2006 Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Let the tank go through its cycle again. Don't worry about wasting salt on water changes. If theres just sand and rock, give it time (couple months ideally, or more) to fall back into equalibrium and start reintroducing the livestock. Also, if your just going to be keeping LPS, its not really essential to dose alk. Your currently extremely high as well. Most with mainly sps tanks shoot for a dKH of 11, and 12 is the high end of "safe". Keep up with your water changes once everything settles and dont worry about dosing until the clam/sps bug bites RO/DI's are nice, but not essential. Lots of people keep very nice tanks using treated tap water. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Marella Posted May 18, 2006 Author Report Share Posted May 18, 2006 Nitrites are starting to peak now. So the cycling is going well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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