Ammonia-Nitrite-Nitrate problems

[Jason Jones]

i hate for my first post to be a problem post, but I know this is the best place to turn.
I will try and go through my system setup and timelines as well as possible.
I have a LED Biocube, factory return pump, two current powerheads, one hydor small powerhead, two blue reef leds, a jbj 1/10 chiller. I started with an aquaticlife skimmer in chamber one, but upgraded to a Reef Octopus HOB 1000 about a month ago. I also have a corallife UV but have it disconnected to see if it fixes the problem.
So far I have had the following livestock at one time or another 1 ocellaris, 1 Picasso, 1 diamond goby, 1 radiant wrasse, 1 longfin fairy, 1 watanabe angel, 1 yellow belly blue hippo, 3 blue green chromis.

I set the tank up 8/13/2017 with nutri seawater, 40lbs liferock, 30lbs caribsea live sand. I followed the cycle for 15 days until ammonia and nitrite were zero. I did cycle with the chromis and unfortunately 2 of them did not make it. Once the cycle had completed I added the two clowns to the chromis and the following week I added a few acans, green star polyp and 2 mushrooms. I kept an eye on my parameters and waited a week between adding stock. My next phase was the radiant wrasse and watanabe, followed by a lobo and 2 more acans.

 

[Crabs McJones]

i hate for my first post to be a problem post, but I know this is the best place to turn.
I will try and go through my system setup and timelines as well as possible.
I have a LED Biocube, factory return pump, two current powerheads, one hydor small powerhead, two blue reef leds, a jbj 1/10 chiller. I started with an aquaticlife skimmer in chamber one, but upgraded to a Reef Octopus HOB 1000 about a month ago. I also have a corallife UV but have it disconnected to see if it fixes the problem.
So far I have had the following livestock at one time or another 1 ocellaris, 1 Picasso, 1 diamond goby, 1 radiant wrasse, 1 longfin fairy, 1 watanabe angel, 1 yellow belly blue hippo, 3 blue green chromis.

I set the tank up 8/13/2017 with nutri seawater, 40lbs liferock, 30lbs caribsea live sand. I followed the cycle for 15 days until ammonia and nitrite were zero. I did cycle with the chromis and unfortunately 2 of them did not make it. Once the cycle had completed I added the two clowns to the chromis and the following week I added a few acans, green star polyp and 2 mushrooms. I kept an eye on my parameters and waited a week between adding stock. My next phase was the radiant wrasse and watanabe, followed by a lobo and 2 more acans.

I don't understand....what is your question? At no point in your post is there a question.

 

[Jason Jones]

This is where the problems began. My ammonia and nitrite started to spike at .4 &.1 respectively. My lps had my dose some prime on top of my normal 20% water change. This seemed to work for about a week an them my longfin and watanabe were dead one morning. I quickly pulled them out, did a 20% change and tested, everything seemed fine. I was concerned so I stopped adding stock at that time and I have a new tank being setup so it wasn’t worth it. For the past few weeks I have been battling ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily. Most recently my phosphate was elevated for the first time.
Attempting to wrap up a long story I am now down to the chromis, diamond goby and Picasso (not looking good) and when I tested my parameters tonight my ammonia was .2 but nitrite was off the chart and nitrate was over 20 but under 50.
I am using redundant Red Sea kits and have had my lfs v rich my results.
My filtration is skimmer-filter floss-purigen-chemipure elite-matrix. They are rinsed in the removed tank water every water change and the floss is replaced every Sunday.

Why is ammonia, nitrite and nitrate continually spiking even with me dosing prime and nopox?

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[Jason Jones]

I don't understand....what is your question? At no point in your post is there a question.

Sorry it cut me off for too many characters

 

[Crabs McJones]

This is where the problems began. My ammonia and nitrite started to spike at .4 &.1 respectively. My lps had my dose some prime on top of my normal 20% water change. This seemed to work for about a week an them my longfin and watanabe were dead one morning. I quickly pulled them out, did a 20% change and tested, everything seemed fine. I was concerned so I stopped adding stock at that time and I have a new tank being setup so it wasn’t worth it. For the past few weeks I have been battling ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily. Most recently my phosphate was elevated for the first time.
Attempting to wrap up a long story I am now down to the chromis, diamond goby and Picasso (not looking good) and when I tested my parameters tonight my ammonia was .2 but nitrite was off the chart and nitrate was over 20 but under 50.
I am using redundant Red Sea kits and have had my lfs v rich my results.
My filtration is skimmer-filter floss-purigen-chemipure elite-matrix. They are rinsed in the removed tank water every water change and the floss is replaced every Sunday.

Thanks in advance for any help

Sorry it cut me off for too many characters

Lol no problem. For starters don't us prime. All it does is bind up ammonia, it doesn't get rid of the problem or the source of it. What are your exact parameters? Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and water temp. Are you using RO/DI water? How much and how heavy do you feed? And are you sure your cycle finished? You should have no nitrite whatsoever if the cycle was truely finished. Is every fish accounted for, nothing rotting in the tank?

 

[Jason Jones]

Lol no problem. For starters don't us prime. All it does is bind up ammonia, it doesn't get rid of the problem or the source of it. What are your exact parameters? Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and water temp. Are you using RO/DI water? How much and how heavy do you feed? And are you sure your cycle finished? You should have no nitrite whatsoever if the cycle was truely finished. Is every fish accounted for, nothing rotting in the tank?

I had zero ammonia and nitrite for approximately two weeks and under the direction of my lfs started adding stock.
All fish have been removed and have not disappeared, same with Mexican turbo. Several hermits have died off but no more than a dozen over the two months.
Salinity is pretty consistent 1.025
The following tests were performed 10/26, 11/1 and 11/6
Ammonia 0, .4, .2
Nitrite 0, .2, 2
Nitrate 2, 10, 30 (estimating due to test range)
Phosphate 0, .75, .2
Calcium 440, 450, 440
DKH 8.2, 8.1, 8.2
Magnesium 1440, 1480, 1480
PH 8.2, 8.2, 8.1
Chiller is set at 78, it kicks on as soon as my temp breaks 79.9
I use 6 stage rodi that reads 0 tds and the salt is Red Sea mixed at my lfs
I feed 1 pipette and let them consume it, if it sits more than 90 seconds or so I wait until later. If they eat quickly I will repeat the process. I feed 2-3 times a day depending on how they ate earlier
I use a good amount of balance as she seems to chug PH

 

[Jason Jones]

I pulled all my corral last week and put the at my lfs so nothing else died on me.
I forgot to mention I also have 2 skunk cleaner, 1 peppermint, 1 emerald crab, 20 blue leg, 20 Red leg, 6 Mexican turbo.

I have also started to develop a lot of algae on my glass. I have always cleaned it every day but the last two days I noticed I needed to clean it twice a day.

 

[Crabs McJones]

It basically sounds like your tank is re-cycling again. There's got to be some change or some variable that were missing to pinpoint the root cause. Maybe someone from #reefsquad may have a better idea.

 

[Jason Jones]

I’m far from experienced but I’m lost.
My LFS basically said pull out what you can and let it go.
I was supposed to have my new tank setup last month but my lfs ordered the triton 44 sump from BRS and they shipped a sapphire. No they are out of stock on the triton

 

[Crabs McJones]

My LFS basically said pull out what you can and let it go.

I'm not sure what that means. Can you elaborate?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Lol no problem. For starters don't us prime. All it does is bind up ammonia, it doesn't get rid of the problem or the source of it. What are your exact parameters? Salinity, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, phosphate, and water temp. Are you using RO/DI water? How much and how heavy do you feed? And are you sure your cycle finished? You should have no nitrite whatsoever if the cycle was truely finished. Is every fish accounted for, nothing rotting in the tank?

Prime. Yup.

How did you cycle the tank? What bacteria did you use?

I'd def do get some DT tims. Or bio spira. Or probidio. ASAP.

 

[Jason Jones]

He is holding my corals for me and isn’t sure what is going on.
More or less he just said let it crash, pull out what dies and see what happens.

 

[Jason Jones]

I used stability for the bacteria.

 

[Jason Jones]

Do you have a recommendation for what to use in place of prime or is that the products you just mentioned?

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Do you have a recommendation for what to use in place of prime or is that the products you just mentioned?

Just those. MB7 will work. Dr tims and bio spira would be best.

 

[Crabs McJones]

Do you have a recommendation for what to use in place of prime or is that the products you just mentioned?

Don't use prime at all, the other products are bacteria supplements to help recycle your tank.

 

[ReeferMadness80G]

I think once you got a substantial bioload in your tank, it started to cycle again. My tank did that, I thought it cycled after 2-3 months. And then once I added more fish and more corals it started over! I’m almost 6 months into a cycle.

 

[Jason Jones]

Ok, trash the prime.
Is Nopox ok for the phosphate. Obviously I’m not as worried about that as the ridiculous nitrite level

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Ok, trash the prime.
Is Nopox ok for the phosphate. Obviously I’m not as worried about that as the ridiculous nitrite level

Don't sweat the Po at all. It won't kill stuff. Only ammonia will.

 

[Jason Jones]

I think once you got a substantial bioload in your tank, it started to cycle again. My tank did that, I thought it cycled after 2-3 months. And then once I added more fish and more corals it started over! I’m almost 6 months into a cycle.

How are you stabizing it enough to prevent livestock loss?