Ammonia spike an nitrites spike! Please help

[brccklyn]

My tank has been cycled for about 2 weeks. I decided to add 2 lps corals as my first ones and overnight have seen a small spike of nitrites to my tank. I would say about .10ppm. My ammonia has also risen to about .10ppm. I am concerned for the health of my clownfish and not sure what I should do at the moment. Should I quickly do a water change? My clownfish doesn't seem to be stressed. The tank is an IM nuvo 16 gallon if that helps. Thanks everyone

 

[marrone]

Even though the tank has cycled it doesn't have a lot of the bacteria necessary to handle the load that you have put into the tank. Do a water change and then check the levels again. You should see the ammonia go down to zero at that point with the nitrites soon following. If you don't it would probably be better to remove the fish until the bacteria catches up.

 

[arnaldolex]

i dont think its anything to worry about much your tank is very young and a water change never hurts lol ive seen fish in tanks with over 40 ppm nitrates with no problems corals stresss those levels more than fish. Your tank is very young expect those swings and algae growth next time maybe wait like a month unless you get struff already from established tanks like water, sand and rocks

 

[brccklyn]

Thanks alot for the advice fellas. I must've have put too much of a bioload into the tank and will move the fish if the levels do not drop. There are too many nice corals out there to not get over excited. Heres to hoping I dont loose anything

 

[brccklyn]

Anyone ever use seachem prime?

 

[marrone]

It's not nitrates, which fish can easily handle at very high amounts, over 100+, but corals can't, but he has nitrites and ammonia, which are deadly, especially at Ph over 8.

Since you have a small tank a water change will do what you need, that and letting the bacteria build up to be able to handle the load. So you don't want to use something like Sechem Prime, as you do need to build up the bacteria.

Also, tell us a little about your setup, like do you have Live Rock and sand, what type of filtration?

 

[brccklyn]

It's not nitrates, which fish can easily handle at very high amounts, over 100+, but corals can't, but he has nitrites and ammonia, which are deadly, especially at Ph over 8.

Since you have a small tank a water change will do what you need, that and letting the bacteria build up to be able to handle the load. So you don't want to use something like Sechem Prime, as you do need to build up the bacteria.

Also, tell us a little about your setup, like do you have Live Rock and sand, what type of filtration?

I purchase about 15lbs of dry reef saver rock from brs and have about 10lbs of substrate. I cycled with pure ammonia to about 1ppm daily and figured biload wouldn't be an issue unless i went really overboard with stocking. I currently have intank media baskets with the stock filter pads which include an activated carbon sponge and a phosphate sponge. Ive also added some filter floss. I believe I was overfeeding my clown (pellets 2 times a day). Would a skimmer or a chaeto fuge plus obviously less feeding avoid this from happening in the future?

 

[KathyC]

How long did you allow the tank to cycle before adding live creatures?

Were you feeding the bacteria anything as the tank was cycling?

I would definitely hold off on adding anything else until the bacteria catches up.

A skimmer is always helpful

 

[duke62]

Patience will allow this not to happen again. You added livestock WAY to soon. 4 to 6 weeks for a cycle. You should test everyday at about week 4 to make sure there is no ammonia and nitrite spike. Ammonia at even low levels can kill your fish. All you should have done was throw in a dead shrimp and waited it out. Nothing good happens fast in this hobby

 

[marrone]

Since the tank was just done cycling, and now it was 2 weeks later, you can expect this to happen. Anytime that you have a small tank it does take sometime to build up enough bacteria to handle a good size load, and adding things will result in spike, especially early on. Right now I would do a water change and see if the levels start to drop.

The first month of a new setup, when you start to add livestock to the tank, is always an important month, as this is when you will have fluctuation and spikes, so you need to go slow.

 

[brccklyn]

My tank cycled for 6 weeks. I cycled dosing pure ammonia daily to 1ppm which I now think was not high enough. I definitely should have taken it slower adding in the livestock. I did a 20% water change and ammonia has dropped down to zero. Nitrites are noticeable very lightly, about .5ppm. I'll wait to see if it drops on it's own, if not I'll do another water change. Loosing corals would be bad but I'll definitely fight for my first fish.

 

[brccklyn]

Thanks for your help everyone. Beginner mistakes but I Did a large water change 40% and the levels have dropped to 0. I will test often and not feed my clown for a few days. Also will do water changes quickly and the problem resurfaces.