new rock killing my tank-Help!

[pinballtrader48]

I just bought a new piece of live rock and a skimmer Friday. I noticed yesterday that my ammonia had all of sudden jumped up. I immediately did a 10 gal change (29 gal tank). Guy at local store told me I was probably getting weird readings from using ammo lock as a dechlorinator. Said that it will mess up your readings. I did just recently begin using it, and I had read some trace ammonia since, which I thought was unrelated. Of course I used ammo lock in the water change and then threw some in the tank because I was worried about it reading ammonia at all. Today, it reads almost off the scale. My curly cue anemone has shrunk to 1/3 it's size, my sebae, which had been looking better, has shrunk , though not as much as curly cue, flower anemone is partly closed- can't tell if it got something or is just not happy. Fish seem ok for now. Piece of pipe organ coral is totally withdrawn. I am desperate for a solution to save my tank. I don't know if it is trying to cycle again, if I am getting false ammonia readings, or what. I would appreciate any advice or suggestions. 29 gallon tank, double bio wheel, prizm skimmer, 3 fish , 4 anemones, a few crabs, 2 feather dusters. 12-25 tests were: ph8.2 Nitrite-0 ammonia-.25 nitrate-10 Sg-1.019

Today, sg is right, ammonia off the scale almost, nitrate is still at @ 10.

 

[pinballtrader48]

Forgot this part- Only new addition is that piece of rock- the very next day I was reading high ammonia, and today it is worse. I can't help but think it did something to my tank. I added all the other rock before the fish except for a couple of small pieces. This was a large piece, 5 1/2 lbs. It seems fine, didn't smell wierd (for live rock)

 

[Clownkeeper]

my guess is that the peice of liverock that you bought was more then likely uncured liverock and it is what is causeing your spike.. you should IMO take that peice out and cure it in a container for several weeks to get rid of the die off that is decaying and causeing your ammonia to get so high. Put it in a rubbermaid container with fresh saltwater and a good pump to circulate the water well and do 25-50% water changes ever few days when the levels get really high. This is how i cured my rock when i bought 50 pounds.
will take about 2 weeks i would say. just smell the rock if it stinks it still needs to cure up..

Troy

 

[Anonymous]

I also think the problem is the rock, and agree with the solution, although I doubt it will take 2 weeks for a single rock.

 

[Eat At Joe's]

I agree with the fact that it is the rock causing the ammonia spike. On an unrelated note though... you may want to rethink what you keep your SG at since you are keeping anemones, especially a difficult one like a sebae. Most anemones appreciate full strength seawater... and 1.019 is most likely too low for them.

 

[pinballtrader48]

I will take the SG advice to heart- I just let it get away that time. It is now right. I agree that it is the rock. I just took it out- I only hope in time. It looked ok compared to the other rocks I have- I am fairly new to this- I didn't realize adding a new rock could jeapordize your entire tank. I am going to take it back to the store and make them cure it. What a bunch of crap!! ANy ideas on damage control? I am going to add charcoal to my baskets in the bio wheel, at least. I guess I have learned a hard lesson about adding rock.

 

[Henry1]

Your situation demonstrates the classic difficulty in maintaining a small setup. . . slight shift= huge impact to water quality.

On the LR thing, one way to reduce a recurrance is to do a thorough sniff test on the rock during selection at the store.
Your nose is your best judge to tell if the rock is healthy or dying.

Cheers

 

[JohnD]

Pete,

It sounds like you are going thru the learning process.

Before you go to the Local Fish Store, I recommend you post the question to this board first. Unlike the LFS, which is interested in your dollars, the board members are interested in you.

Besides the sniff test, the more expensive rock (when comparing, say Marshall Island rock with Marshall Island rock) is the cured rock is the more expensive and the cheaper rock is the uncured.

 

[bigtank]

I had a similar disaster when I first started out. Amquel really helps bring the ammonia down.

 

[sese]

Another problem I can see is that the ammo lock converts toxic ammonia to a non-toxic form. This non-toxic for does, however, show up during an ammonia test. I would do some more water changes without this stuff, use carbon and then add some Cycle, TLC or some other similar supplement.

BTW, are you using tap water?

Eric

 

[pinballtrader48]

I'm using tap water that I treat with ammo-lock, etc. I have chenged the drop in filters, (not the wheels) and added charcoal to the baskets. I bought some plain dechlorinator which won't mess up my reading. I did a change Sat., and I will do another 10 gallon change tomorrow. The rock is supposed to be cured- it has the red and green algae all over it, etc. It came from a display tank that had several pieces of rock and a few mandarin fish. I took it out and put it in a bucket with some fresh saltwater I made. The water out of it reads very high ammonia. I took it to the store today and let them check it also. Same readings. They are going to leave it in their tanl for several days and then isolate it and re-test it. Now I am kind of screwed until I do enough water changes because I can't accurately tell how much ammonia I have. I will probably do another one saturday also, if you guys think that sounds ok. everything seems to be hangin in there except the curly cue anemone which looks very bad. I dosed it with a product similar to ammo lock today to try and neutralize what was in there. If no one sees any problems doing some multiple water changes, that is my next step. BTW, that ammo stuff I used today mentioned something about it messing up tests and mentioned another kind of ammonia test- anybody used it or know what it is and where to get it? Again, THANKS very much for the help- I am really freaking out over this because I have tried very hard to stay on top of my tank.

 

[pinballtrader48]

Last night and today ammonia was at 4.0, as of about an hour ago it seems to have come down to between 1 and 2. Maybe all this is working

 

[Anonymous]

Normally, the live rock is the first thing you are supposed to put in the tank. You aren't supposed to put un-cured live rock in an established tank or you will always have an ammonia spike, since there will always be some die-off from transport.