10 Gallon nano problems

[coolreefduder]

Hi everyone, the highs and lows of this hobby is reminiscent of a roller coaster ride man....and let me tell you; I've been on this ride for years! I've never been this frustrated. Here's my problem, I decided to set up a 10 gallon BB SPS tank about 2 months ago. Running a 15 w aqua UV sterilizer, bubble magus nano skimmer, 1 SE 20 K 250 W Ushio metal halide, 2 koralia pumps with 30 lbs of live rock and some chaeto in my 20 gallon sump. Now for the past month or so I've been battling ammonia problems just about every other day. ex: Monday 0ppm Ammonia API test, Wednesday .050ppm etc. I currently have 1 Tyree Green Jacket frag and a red capricornis frag. Is this nano tank just too small causing water parameters to shift so quickly within a span of 48 hrs? I also have 1 100 gallon reef tank and water paremters have always been stable as long as i keep up with my husbandry. Any advice or comments would be greatly appreciated.

 

[dogstar74]

I can't say where your ammonia is comming from, but it sounds like your tank has had plenty of time to cycle. I would trust the test kit less, and my eye more. I don't test my water unless something is looking ill. How do the cap and green jacket look? Stressed? I know that in a system this size, most problems can be fixed with a couple of 4 gallon water changes. With sand/and LR, a 4 gallon change is nearly 50% of your water volume, so that tends to balance things.

I run a remora skimmer on my 10 gallon, but if I really want to keep algea in control, I have to do a water change weekly. Of course I have a clown fish and 13 kinds of corals in my 10 gallon. But I am always chasing a small algea outbreak.

Don't panic too much. just keep an eye on the inhabitants, and change the water as needed.

Good luck
Aaron

 

[Salamander]

What other livestock do you have in the nano? How often and how much do you feed? I can't think of many other reasons for the NH4 except bad rock.....I've seen weird things look like LR which weren't rock at all. Or like stated above...how are the frags? Might be the test kit. Try to get another refer to double check. It should be 0 but your numbers not so off that it could be the kit. or maybe within the acceptable error of the kit you use.

 

[coolreefduder]

Where is my edit post?