AHHH!!!! Ammonia Spike

[Oceanwave45]

Which test kit are you using, and what's the number you're coming up with?

Water change is unlikely to do harm to anything except your bank account. (I know, sore muscles - but think of it as a workout!)

~Bruce

Which test kit are you using, and what's the number you're coming up with?

Water change is unlikely to do harm to anything except your bank account. (I know, sore muscles - but think of it as a workout!)

~Bruce

API and the number is 0.50 to 1.0 around there

This is the second time this has happened in the last two months

 

[Maritimer]

.25 or so is a pretty common "false positive" with that kit - 1.0, not so much. Once your tank's fully cycled, you shouldn't be seeing that kind of ammonia, without some kind of decaying organics in the system. Did you try re-testing? Is there a LFS with a kit that could confirm that number? Take your sample from the tank before the W/C, if you do one - maybe one after the W/C as well, for some peace-of-mind.

1.0 does warrant action.

~Bruce

 

[jsker]

Really? I clean my filer once a week. But I guess that could happen. Maybe shut everything down and than feed? maybe lighter?

Just a suggestion that the pad was trapping nutrients. I am not a fan of water changes just to get what ever out in a hurry. It could be a multitude of things and you are getting a bunch of answers.

 

[MnFish1]

If it's ammonia , the prime will eat it. It's bacteria and bacteria loves ammonia.

I personally am doubting your test kit.

Prime is not bacteria - its a chemical.

 

[EriksOasis]

Just a question. If you ha e a good bacteria colony already present why and how would you still see ammonia in the water test? Doesn’t the bacteria colony rid the ammonia into nitrite then nitrate? Unless there was excessive amounts of ammonia resulting in a bacteria bloom? Has your water gone cloudy for a day or two?

 

[eatbreakfast]

If you do bring a sample to the LFS make sure to waitI24hrs after adding prime.

Turning off the return while feeding will help from excess food being trapped while giving the fish more time to eat it then just getting filtered away. Turn off the skimmer too when you turn off the main filter.

If the same amount of food is being fed everyday, then it really doesn't matter if uneaten food gets trapped in the filter, because the bacteria should be used to handling that amount.

Also, food being moved by flow elicits a better feeding response from fish and this will help new fish more readily accept food when first added. Also, most aquarium fish are better suited to eat out of the water column, not the substrate.

 

[DSC reef]

I was meaning to leave powerheads on while the main hob was off but I get what your saying. When I turn off my main pump the gyre stays on so the food goes crazy in the tank. It's wild to see the fish literally ignore the food right in front of them when the powerhead is off but as soon as it kicks on they go nuts.

 

[Brew12]

A few additional thoughts....

Prime will bind the ammonia for a period of time but not get rid of it. If you are still reading high ammonia you need to add Prime every 2 to 3 days. Bacteria will still process ammonia that is bound by Prime so it should drop.

What are your Nitrates and Nitrites doing? It would be very unusual to have an ammonia spike at that level without seeing some nitrites and continuously increasing nitrates. If you don't see Nitrite and your Nitrates are steady, I would suspect a bad test result.

 

[reeferfoxx]

I'm thinking a test kit error as well. API is notorious for failing miserably.

 

[Oceanwave45]

Just a question. If you ha e a good bacteria colony already present why and how would you still see ammonia in the water test? Doesn’t the bacteria colony rid the ammonia into nitrite then nitrate? Unless there was excessive amounts of ammonia resulting in a bacteria bloom? Has your water gone cloudy for a day or two?

Water hasn't gone cloudy or anything, that why I don't understand what is happening. The only thing I can think of is, some snails may have died, everything else is doing well.

Water test are normal, PH is normal, corals and anemone are normal. I can't determine whats happening here. I need to find the cause

 

[Oceanwave45]

I'm thinking a test kit error as well. API is notorious for failing miserably.[/QUOTE
I will need to find another test, which doesn't have these false positives.

 

[Oceanwave45]

Water Results for today:

PH 7.8 ish
Phosphate 0.25
Nitrate 5.0
Ammonia 0.50
CA 380
KH 179.9

I am still showing Ammonia in the water, I dosed with Prime last night. I still can't determine what is going on. I will be going to the LFS today and getting some official testing done.

If anyone knows why this is happening, please let me know... I consider myself CONFUSED!

 

[reeferfoxx]

Water Results for today:

PH 7.8 ish
Phosphate 0.25
Nitrate 5.0
Ammonia 0.50
CA 380
KH 179.9

I am still showing Ammonia in the water, I dosed with Prime last night. I still can't determine what is going on. I will be going to the LFS today and getting some official testing done.

If anyone knows why this is happening, please let me know... I consider myself CONFUSED!

Until you get the number verified, i wouldn't consider anything happening. As of now, your tank is doing great.

 

[eatbreakfast]

By this point nitrite would be detectable if ammonia were present.

 

[Brew12]

I am still showing Ammonia in the water, I dosed with Prime last night. I still can't determine what is going on. I will be going to the LFS today and getting some official testing done.

Keep in mind that Prime doesn't remove ammonia it only binds it. The ammonia will still show up on tests and be able to be consumed by the nitrifying bacteria even after using Prime.

I think getting your LFS to test some water is a great idea.

 

[Oceanwave45]

Just got the water tested, there are low amount of ammonia in the water. I did a 20% water change today. And I was told by the LFS to use Purigen, so I added that to my filter. According to the LFS, I am running about 0.25 PPM ammonia in the water.

I also cleaned the tank and waiting to see what happens. They still aren't too sure why this is happening.

 

[reeferfoxx]

Just got the water tested, there are low amount of ammonia in the water. I did a 20% water change today. And I was told by the LFS to use Purigen, so I added that to my filter. According to the LFS, I am running about 0.25 PPM ammonia in the water.

I also cleaned the tank and waiting to see what happens. They still aren't too sure why this is happening.

Oh wow! Pretty puzzling. How long has the tank been up and runnng? How quickly did you add live stock. Snail death can contribute but usually the bioload from that isn't enough to create a spike. Did you have any prior temperature swings or mix saltwater at the wrong salinity at any given point?

 

[Oceanwave45]

Oh wow! Pretty puzzling. How long has the tank been up and runnng? How quickly did you add live stock. Snail death can contribute but usually the bioload from that isn't enough to create a spike. Did you have any prior temperature swings or mix saltwater at the wrong salinity at any given point?

Hey! Yes I know this is odd! We can't trouble shoot anymore than we already have. So I can you some additional information but I am not sure if we will be able to find the cause.

Its been up for 8 months
I haven't added any live stock in 3 months
I haven't had any temp swings

I did mix some salt that I had left, I took about 4 cups of instant ocean and mixed into my reef pro salt.

The only changes that have been made are
New RODI unit - just got
Changed salt to Red Sea Coral Pro Mix

Other than that, that it. I do a weekly water change. I have used Prime only when needed. So twice because of the ammonia issues.

No fish have died
Corals are fully open
Anemone is fine
The fish are more active now, than yesterday.

Other than that, I have no idea why this happened.

 

[reeferfoxx]

New RODI unit - just got

This may sound annoying but if this is the most recent change, we need to start here. I went through your RO/DI thread and one thing I noticed is this unit doesn't come with a water pressure gauge. Also, you made the statement;

It's a little slow but it's better than dragging buckets of water up the stairs!

Assuming you live in an apartment, there might be some water pressure concerns. A lot of times people have to get a booster pump to achieve the proper 60psi. I know you tested the TDS and it came to 0, this equipment could be off as well. I think @Randy Holmes-Farley made an article about salt mixes containing some ammonia? This is new to me so maybe he can chime in?

 

[Oceanwave45]

This may sound annoying but if this is the most recent change, we need to start here. I went through your RO/DI thread and one thing I noticed is this unit doesn't come with a water pressure gauge. Also, you made the statement;

Assuming you live in an apartment, there might be some water pressure concerns. A lot of times people have to get a booster pump to achieve the proper 60psi. I know you tested the TDS and it came to 0, this equipment could be off as well. I think @Randy Holmes-Farley made an article about salt mixes containing some ammonia? This is new to me so maybe he can chime in?

Omg thank you so so much for you help! I will look into this as well. I haven’t heard of any rodi unit issue with tie model but I guess I could look into it!

Thank you again