Help Please--Water Parameter Issues

[Drinkmorewater]

Hi,

I was posing this in hopes someone might have some suggestions or be able to help.

The problem: My Nitrates are really high. I had them in the 80s and have brough them down to 25-35 currently. My Amononia is currently between 20-30.

The system:

I just upgraded to a 180 gallon reef tank by tenacore. It was previously setup by the last owner as a marine only with live rock. I have a UV light, skimmer and 40 gallon sump for filtration. I would guess I have about 150-200 pounds of LR and at least 100 pounds of live sand.

When I changed to a reef setup I took out all of the bio balls and all of the old filter media (carbon bags, filter pads etc). After doing all of this I'm still having my tests coming back quite high. My last water change was 9 days ago and was about 15% of my system.

I have a varierty of corals and about 12 fish which I feed about 4 times per week. I have a clean up crew of about 50 hermits/snails, 8 shrimp, 1 purple lobster.

Does anyone have any idea what I can do?

Thank you for your help!

 

[Imbarrie]

When you set this up was the rock out of water for a while?
Did you remove all the bio balls all at once?
Did you let the tank cycle when you set it up?

All three of those could be the cause.


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[TripleT]

My Amononia is currently between 20-30.

You need to get it back to 0 as soon as possible, or your livestock will start dying, or suffering damage that it might not recover from.

I would do the largest water change you possibly can, as soon as you can. The larger the better, as long as you get your ph, temp, and salinity to match.

As soon after that as you can, do another.

Repeat until you get a 0 reading again.

Add one of these to your system, and swap it out for a new one in a couple of weeks.

Or one of these:

 

[TripleT]

Also double check your reading for ammonia, and that you are using the color chart for saltwater, not fresh.

 

[TripleT]

You sure it's 20? My test kit stops at 8.

Does the water smell?

Make sure nothing has died. And check every snail.

 

[KathyC]

The ammonia is your issue, not the nitrates (now anyway).

What type of test kits are you using?
Was ALL of the rock 'cured' before it went into the tank?
What percentage of the sand was bagged (?) live sand or what kind of sand is it?

It would be helpful to know when you did the upgrade as well.

 

[KathyC]

Unless you are going to change ALL of the water at 1 time, water changes over a short period of time will not get the ammonia reading down to zero.
With each change of water you will be a percentage of the 'new' water. With a 75% water change you would be LUCKY to cut the ammonia number in half (and that is doubtful & very optimistic).

Although I rarely suggest chemical means of correcting a parameter like ammonia (or nitates or nitrites), at this point to try and spare your fish further gill damage, I would suggest you go purchase a bottle of 'Ammo-lock' and dose according to the directions (carefully) for the WATER volume in your tank/sump. You still will need to do the water changes to get the ammonia out of there.

 

[Drinkmorewater]

Thanks Kathy for your reply...

To answer your questions please see below:

The ammonia is your issue, not the nitrates (now anyway).

What type of test kits are you using?--Instant Ocean

Was ALL of the rock 'cured' before it went into the tank?
I believe so. The rock was in his system for over 6 months before I purchased it. I added some of my own rock which I had in my previous system for 2 years (this system never gave me one once of trouble with a single water parameter which is why I'm so frustrated).

What percentage of the sand was bagged (?) live sand or what kind of sand is it? I don't know what was bagged or what was live originally but the sand was in his aquarium for over 1 year before I purchased it and moved it a month ago.

It would be helpful to know when you did the upgrade as well. I did the upgrade a month ago. So far I haven't lost any fish and most of my coral looks great with the exception of an open brain that died (I can only imagine because of the nitrates.)

 

[Drinkmorewater]

You sure it's 20? My test kit stops at 8.

Does the water smell?

Make sure nothing has died. And check every snail.

I'll double check my kit to see if I made a mistake in my reading. Being color blind probably doesn't help

The water doesn't smell but I do have one dead turbo snail that fell over. Does this contribute to the bad water levels? I can try to fish him out (he is in a difficult to reach spot) but I originally figured I'd let the rest of the clean up crew do thier thing.

Thanks again for your expertise.

 

[KathyC]

You want the dead snail out of there

Do recheck your reading and let us know please

When you moved the rock & the sand - how long was it out of water for?
The answer makes a big difference in whether is was actually live (still) or had a lot of die off. If a lot of die off, then you are going through a whole new cycle..hence the high ammonia (and possibly nitrate levels).

Do you have a nitite kit? If not, you probably want to get one..soon

 

[SevTT]

Put the bioballs back in for the moment to kill the ammonia and the nitrite. When they're down to 0, start removing them slowly, a handful or so a day, and continue testing for increasing ammonia or nitrite.

The problem with bioballs is that they compose a significant portion of the biological filtration capacity of the tank, and, like in a cycling tank, the bacteria in your rock and sand need time to adjust their populations for the new load.

 

[Drinkmorewater]

Good news. My water change is complete and OLD test kit in the garbage. As it turns out the old test kit may have gone bad (if that is possible). My new test kit says my Amonoia is actually 2 (not great but in the right direction). My Nitrates have dropped to about 15.

I was also able to remove the stinky dead snail so i'm sure that was contributing as well.

Thanks everyone for your help!

 

[TripleT]

Good news. My water change is complete and OLD test kit in the garbage. As it turns out the old test kit may have gone bad (if that is possible). My new test kit says my Amonoia is actually 2 (not great but in the right direction). My Nitrates have dropped to about 15.

I was also able to remove the stinky dead snail so i'm sure that was contributing as well.

Thanks everyone for your help!

When's the next water change? Don't stop until you get a zero reading.