Ammonia Help

[sarah15]

We're having a small spike in ammonia in our 65 gallon tank. We bought it used and it came with fish, water, sand, etc. so it had been cycled but we knew that the move would disrupt it a bit. Unfortunately we can't really put the fish it came with anywhere else. There was a small spike in ammonia (.25 or .3 ppm) and we're doing a water change and put in a little primer. Any other ideas to keep anything from dying?

 

[swannyson7]

I'd mix a large batch of saltwater and change around 15 gallons per day for a couple days. You're probably getting another cycle from stirring up the sandbed and any detritus on the liverock. Not sure what you mean by "primer," but if it's a chemical additive to reduce NH3 levels, I would advise against it.

 

[swannyson7]

One question though.... what is your pH at? As ammonia levels rise, your pH will usually drop. In lower pH, less of the ammonia will be toxic, but performing a water change will often raise the pH due to buffering additives in salt mixes and raise the toxicity of the NH3. Some people have had luck with adding things like Amquel (a NH3 neutralizer) and then completing a water change. If you take the partial water cahnge route, you may want to reduce the pH of the new water with a little bit of vinegar (a little bit goes a LOOOONG way, so be careful) to match the pH of the current tank water. Large fluctuations in your pH will cause issues as well, so be careful with this tactic.

 

[sarah15]

Our pH was around 8.0 so a little low. We'll definitely keep an eye on it.

 

[swannyson7]

You may want to conisder taking the fish to the LFS to allow the tank to cycle properly. Most reputable LFS will either hold the livestock for you or give you store credit for them. If you get credit then you can set the tank up with the livestock you really want instead of some one else's hand-me-downs. If you take the livestock back to the LFS, I'd recommend pulling all of the sand out of the tank and rinsing it completely or just replacing it with new sand (if you didn't do so already). I'd rinse the rock out as well. All the junk that got stirred up out of the sandbed & LR during the move can cause problems for a long time.