Ammonia spike! Please advise.

[Strawberry]

Last night my return pump on my bio cube 29 failed, so I increased power head surface agitation and added an air stone and pump to oxygenate the water. This morning when I began to replace the pump, I decided to clean out the rear chambers of the tank and I guess I stirred up a lot of half decomposed settled debris. I was juuuuust finishing up and decided to check my ammonia which has consistently been zero for over a month. IT WAS BETWEEN 4.0 AND 8.0 ACCORDING TO API TEST KIT!! I just double dosed my tank with some Prime hoping to bring the ammonia levels back down. Is there anything else I can do????

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Water change. Maybe some zeolite media in a bag in high flow area of tank. Prime a good idea too.

 

[ahiggins]

API is notorious for false readings. What do you have in the tank and is it irritated/mad? Usually stirred up stuff (unless fresh) will just increase nitrates.

 

[DEWreefing]

Prime has to be 5X the strength to cause ammonia to be harmless I believe check the back of the bottle

 

[BornHandy]

I like the water change, and a second opinion test kit would be a good idea.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

Water change. Maybe some zeolite media in a bag in high flow area of tank.

 

[Strawberry]

I didn’t have time to do a water change because I had to go to work so I just did the prime but thank you all for the advice. What does zeolite do?

 

[DEWreefing]

Zeolite media removes ammonia

 

[Strawberry]

I tested my ammonia before and after adding the prime and it seems to have helped. Thank y’all so much.

 

[Steve_Skullsplitter0]

I didn’t have time to do a water change because I had to go to work so I just did the prime but thank you all for the advice. What does zeolite do?

It soaks up ammonia before it turns into nitrates. Usually I mix it with carbon. But just like carbon it gets exhausted quickly. In your case I would use for a week then stop.

 

[Malifry97]

I tested my ammonia before and after adding the prime and it seems to have helped. Thank y’all so much.

Prime doesn't reduce ammonia reading on test kits, it wil still show up the same and can also cause false readings. IMO the first test was a very false reading. because half decomposed detritus will normally just increase nitrates I think it was a false reading considering its an api kit as well

 

[Strawberry]

Prime doesn't reduce ammonia reading on test kits, it wil still show up the same and can also cause false readings. IMO the first test was a very false reading. because half decomposed detritus will normally just increase nitrates I think it was a false reading considering its an api kit as well

I thought API was a decent test kit. Without spending an arm and a leg, do you have any recommendations for more accurate test equipment?

 

[DEWreefing]

Salifert test are good but once your tank is cycled you should never see ammonia unless you have a massive die off or add way to many fish at the same time.

 

[Strawberry]

Salifert test are good but once your tank is cycled you should never see ammonia unless you have a massive die off or add way to many fish at the same time.

I know my tank was cycled, that’s why I kinda panicked when the test kit showed such an increase in ammonia. Are you sure that decomposing brine shrimp/detritus wouldn’t cause an ammonia spike? Now I’m worried what the prime is going to affect since I dosed it heavily before coming to work.

 

[Rogued_Reefer]

Prime won’t affect the fish or anything don’t worry about that. My concern here is your tank might not have been fully cycled if you truly had an ammonia spike. How long did it take your tank to cycle? And how did you cycle it?

 

[Strawberry]

Prime won’t affect the fish or anything don’t worry about that. My concern here is your tank might not have been fully cycled if you truly had an ammonia spike. How long did it take your tank to cycle? And how did you cycle it?

It took about 3 weeks. I added live rock, “live sand”, nitrifying bacteria, and ghost fed the tank. I’ve gradually been increasing the amount I feed as my parameters have proven to be stable. It’s been running now for about 2 months.

 

[Malifry97]

S

I thought API was a decent test kit. Without spending an arm and a leg, do you have any recommendations for more accurate test equipment?

API is decent for some things but for ammonia it’s bad. But your tank shouldn’t have shown ammonia if it was cycled. Also I’d recommend salifert

 

[Malifry97]

It took about 3 weeks. I added live rock, “live sand”, nitrifying bacteria, and ghost fed the tank. I’ve gradually been increasing the amount I feed as my parameters have proven to be stable. It’s been running now for about 2 months.

If your tank had been up for 2 months you are definitely cycled

 

[DSEKULA]

At a 4-8 ammonia reading I'd expect fish to be reacting. Gulping at the surface, gills red and rapidly breathing etc. If none of this happened I'd guess it was a false reading. Anyway, it's over now if just make sure you don't let food etc build up and keep an eye on the fish for any signs of stress. For a new tank an ammonia alert badge can help give some piece of mind. Their pretty cheap and you can just leave it in the tank and instantly get an idea if there's an ammonia.

 

[Strawberry]

Well crap. I will definitely be purchasing a salifert test kit for ammonia, then. Anything else unreliable by API? That’s what all of my test kits are.