Ammonia in INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS

allsite

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First off, I'll just say I'm one sad fish dad. One by one my fish and corals are dying. It's my first reef and my 5 fish were buddies for 2 years. Not a single death until this week.

INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS crashed my reef with ammonia. I didn't believe it at first but the tests feel conclusive.

The picture with 2 tubes:
Left: RODI+salt mix (from a pitcher of water with a drop of AmmoLock)
Right: RODI+salt mix

The picture with 1 tube:
Just RODI

Is it in my bucket? Nope, I tested it with a clean pitcher, exact same result. Nothing else touches the water prior to testing.

I have 2 boxes of mix that were ordered several months apart. One brand new, the other about 4 months old. They BOTH produced the same result (as seen in the pic).

All of the tests were done to water that was tank-ready, salinity and temp on par. I'm happy I didn't dump it into the tank but that also mean I'm just letting it die until I get new salt first thing tomorrow. I really hope AmmoLock and bacteria additives can save what little is left (1 clown and a few frags).

My tank is currently testing better than the right tube and worse than the left (forgot to take a photo but it's somewhat irrelevant in this thread).

My question is, how is it possible INSTANT OCEAN REEF CRYSTALS could produce 0.7ppm ammonia seawater? They're just selling poison? Is that not the point when doing a water change, to remove bad stuff while introducing good stuff?

It was traumatic to watch it crash after enjoying it to the max, stuck in a small apartment downtown during a pandemic. However I realize other reefers have incurred much bigger losses and my heart goes out to anyone who has to go through it.

168426979_3789554974446868_3184096659993372410_n.png 169469175_943549413142283_754375814307983494_n.png
 

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@WIReefer do you know of anyone in the area around Madison that can help out with getting @allsite some SW or salt?
I most likely can, do you know where at in Madison they are located east, west side? I’m not too far from there also do they prefer mixed already or just salt?
 
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Aqua Man

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Considerations - just upgraded to RODI (about 60/40 rodi/tap and getting better each wc), airstones were removed days ago (in favor of surface agitation), tank design recently changed (removed a ton of rock, organic waste, rocks are now stilted on acrylic rods and it's overall a LOT cleaner than it's been in the two years it's been running, new design has been running for 1.5 weeks)
It is possible that when you removed majority of your rock that your bio filter was drastically reduced. 5 fish correct?

was the high ammonia reading before or after the fish were found dead?
 
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I most likely can, do you know where at in Madison they are located east, west side? I’m not too far from there also do they prefer mixed already or just salt?
I really appreciate this but I’m barely awake and have plans to get different salt tomorrow. There’s also the fact that most of the livestock is already gone. The support in this forum is overwhelming. Thanks everyone.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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It is possible that when you removed majority of your rock that your bio filter was drastically reduced. 5 fish correct?

was the high ammonia reading before or after the fish were found dead?
The high ammonia reading was also found in freshly mixed SW.



Thanks for offering @WIReefer


Keep us updated
 
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It is possible that when you removed majority of your rock that your bio filter was drastically reduced. 5 fish correct?

was the high ammonia reading before or after the fish were found dead?
Ammonia was already testing high. Closer to the photo I added down the thread than the photos in my original post. However the test the following morning was the worst.
 
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I really appreciate this but I’m barely awake and have plans to get different salt tomorrow. There’s also the fact that most of the livestock is already gone. The support in this forum is overwhelming. Thanks everyone.

You are down to one fish why would you wait until tomorrow to try to get new water
 
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brandon429

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all proofs aside can we all agree this is a stuck cycle thread

two years delayed

Homebrood and Neon would you agree that we are in process of deciding whether a reef is cycled or not cycled here

we are discussing the core cycling param if im not wildly off base, at month 24

reframing what we are discussing to make sure big picture factors. This is a two year old reef not fully cycled to summarize the null hypothesis.
 
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HomebroodExotics

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all proofs aside can we all agree this is a stuck cycle thread

two years delayed

Homebrood and Neon would you agree that we are in process of deciding whether a reef is cycled or not cycled here

we are discussing the core cycling param if im not wildly off base, at month 24

reframing what we are discussing to make sure big picture factors. This is a two year old reef not fully cycled to summarize the null hypothesis.
Dude go put some dead fish in your reef tank and let me know how It goes.
 
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sde1500

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all proofs aside can we all agree this is a stuck cycle thread

two years delayed

Homebrood and Neon would you agree that we are in process of deciding whether a reef is cycled or not cycled here

we are discussing the core cycling param if im not wildly off base, at month 24

reframing what we are discussing to make sure big picture factors. This is a two year old reef not fully cycled to summarize the null hypothesis.
Are you here to help, or just prove how smart you think you are? Because outside of the first offer to help via PM, you've filled this thread arguing with anyone with an idea that doesn't mesh with the work threads you like flexing on everyone.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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I don't honestly know what is going on but I think this one exists outside of our current cycling rules. A 2 year old tank can process ammonia... unless its in the salt mix and a large WC is done dumping ammonia in all at once. I am not willing to close this out yet or place it under a category until OP gets atleast 6 hours of much needed rest.
 
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NeonRabbit221B

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Last post for the day. Doing some searching online it seems to happen occasionally in batches of IO RC to have high ammonia for the first hour or so after mixing. I have always mixed mine overnight on fridays to use for Sat or Sun water changes but it seems ammonia "gases off" fully after 12-24 hours of mixing and heating. Found several threads where ammonia readings were in the range of .5 to 1 ppm (or readings above the non-zero standard misread from test kits) after a quick mix.

 
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WIReefer

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No problem we are all here to help. If you ever need anything don’t hesitate to reach out. I work in Madison so I’m there all the time.
 
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first off sorry for your loss.
I tend to agree this isn’t a ammonia issue. Ammonia normally kills corals and inverts much faster then fish. Even if the IO had ammonia in it. The nitrogen cycle would have easily delt with 2 ppm in 24 hours or less. I’m not sure what is going on with your tank but I would suggest getting a local reefer or store to check all your water parameters. I am also leaning toward fish disease. Or some other toxin in the water. But again inverts are normally first to go.
good luck.
 
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Gtinnel

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Dude go put some dead fish in your reef tank and let me know how It goes.
I've been trying not to post in this thread because I don't want to be part of the arguing but if one of my fish dies I don't remove it from my tank. It is food for my cuc and as already pointed out countless times my tank quickly processes the ammonia.
 
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Azedenkae

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I just want to point out that different aquariums will be able to house different amounts of nitrifiers. That was the whole point of the '1-1.5lb live rock per gallon rule' once upon a time. With effective biomedia on the market, things have changed but what stays consistent is that each aquarium can only handle a certain amount of ammonia.

And whatever amount of ammonia op measured, could already be after the amount that the nitrifiers have been taking care of. Nitrification is not instant, and if the max capacity is 2ppm per day, then that is 0.5ppm per six hours. If for example there was 1ppm ammonia to start with from the water change (let's ignore any sort of feeding or other sources of ammonia for now), then it still takes six hours for that to be reduced to 0.5ppm. During that entire six hours the fish would still be subjected to between 0.5 to 1ppm ammonia. Which ain't great.

And then if deaths really start, and ammonia was already pretty high, it can snowball. Sure, in some aquariums cuc takes care of the death and so on. In others, one dead animal snowballs into a lot of deaths.

Not saying this is absolutely the case for op, but is just something that should be considered when discussing the removal of ammonia.
 
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