Ammonia spike almost crashed my tank, should I just start a new tank?

Leon Gorani · Nov 9, 2020

So I had a big ammonia spike last week causing me to loose all but 2 of my fish. At first I thought I was having a mini cycle, but I'm not sure if it is that. My tank has been cloudy ever since and I have tried adding supplements to lower ammonia, and I've added a lot of beneficial bacteria, but it seems like it isn't really helping. I've added air stones for oxygen and increased my flow from my wave pumps. I've even added an aqua clear filter with more filtration to see if it would help. I have been removing more and more snails and crabs due to deaths and fear of them dying and increasing my ammonia even more. My corals are doing okay but they definitely seem to be affected. I have so much detritus and a lot of stuff in the water that is making the water look dirty. I am not sure what to do, I have one expensive fish (long fin clownfish) in the tank so I am thinking of starting a new mini tank so I can prevent more loss of fish.

I have another thread on my profile with pics of my tank and some other conversations about what is happening to my tank, if you would like to reference that.

But I am thinking of buying a 10 gallon tank from petco (current tank is 29 gallons) and buying live rock from a fish store and setting it up and have it cycled in a week or asap. Im thinking about moving all of my corals and my long fin clown into that tank and hoping they recover. Is this a good idea? or should I just keep battling the problems in my current tank? and try to fix my tank? any suggestions are welcome, let me know what you would do in my situation.

laverda · Nov 10, 2020

I don’t think rushing to set up a new tank that is not cycled is going to solve anything. Most rock from LFS is not fully cycled. You would be better off getting rock from other running reef tanks. Rock that is cured, cycled and established. Keep it wet during the move.

Reef. · Nov 10, 2020

Why can’t you do a couple of 50% water changes and get the ammonia to 0? Adding all you have seems overkill for a tank that size when a water change would probably fix the issue easier and safer than adding a load of stuff to the tank.

For a tank that size it sounds like you have a lot of snails etc in there.

I would not start a new tank, you need to understand what has gone wrong with this one first before starting another.

If you are worried about the fish, see if your LFS can take it in or a friend until you understand what is going on and can fix it.

hds4216 · Nov 10, 2020

Do you have any idea what caused the spike?

Fiesty · Nov 10, 2020

It may have been mentioned in other threads already, but if not start asap with doing some larger water changes! Starting new tank and more changes most likely leasing to more problems. Slow down with everything else but water changes. Do them often as u can without causing more instability within your tank. The amount and frequency with be dependent on your exact setup / situation so u will have to figure out the bennificial balance yourself. And definitely be using rodi water.

brandon429 · Nov 10, 2020

I read that you did resealing work on your tank

was the silicone shown aquarium safe just checking we had a post two mos ago where it wasn’t, large scale losses

Leon Gorani · Nov 10, 2020

Reef. said:
Why can’t you do a couple of 50% water changes and get the ammonia to 0? Adding all you have seems overkill for a tank that size when a water change would probably fix the issue easier and safer than adding a load of stuff to the tank.

For a tank that size it sounds like you have a lot of snails etc in there.

I would not start a new tank, you need to understand what has gone wrong with this one first before starting another.

If you are worried about the fish, see if your LFS can take it in or a friend until you understand what is going on and can fix it.

Okay thanks, I will be doing more frequent water changes to help with ammonia. I honestly didn't know water changes could help get rid of ammonia. I have just added some media to help control ammonia so I am hoping that will do something. My fish seem to be doing much better and I think I got it under control, I think I had a lot of snails die and that might have caused an ammonia spike.

Leon Gorani · Nov 10, 2020

brandon429 said:
I read that you did resealing work on your tank

was the silicone shown aquarium safe just checking we had a post two mos ago where it wasn’t, large scale losses

sorry that was a different tank, my current tank with this problem has been set up for over a year. I actually sold that tank that I was thinking about resealing. but yes I made sure to buy GE silicone 1 without any mold prevention added, I read a lot about that before buying silicone.

Leon Gorani · Nov 10, 2020

hds4216 said:
Do you have any idea what caused the spike?

I think it was caused by deaths of snails and crabs, and my last starfish. I also lost a fish while the spike was happening so maybe that added to the problem and just made it worse. I need to be more aware of deaths and remove snails that die or else they will cause problems.

ApoIsland · Nov 10, 2020

Leon Gorani said:
Okay thanks, I will be doing more frequent water changes to help with ammonia. I honestly didn't know water changes could help get rid of ammonia. I have just added some media to help control ammonia so I am hoping that will do something. My fish seem to be doing much better and I think I got it under control, I think I had a lot of snails die and that might have caused an ammonia spike.

In the future when you have a small tank and have an issue with the water quality it's best to change all the water. Just match salinity fairly close (a little lower is fine but higher is not) and match temp within a few degrees. Be careful not to stir up too much junk in the sand bed when doing large water changes. I have seen many tank crash threads here as a result of people trying to clean their sand bed.

And if you find you just have too much waste in your sand / rocks for your liking you can always do a quick total rip clean on that small tank. Shouldn't take more than an hour or so and that will definitely have the tank in tip top shape.