Ahhhh! Ammonia Levels at 8.0+

[Big_Boss_77]

I would invest in setting up a sump and a fuge, trust me, 55g isn't a lot of real estate when it comes to live rock and bio filtration. I put about 60lbs in my DT alone before I ran out of floor space, I squeezed about another 5-7lbs into my fuge as rubble. More the merrier when it comes to live rock.

 

[inetmug]

Amquel Plus.... emergency, or the prime stuff.

But as first mentioned hope you got the live stuff out. You are in a catch-22, you have stuff dying because of the elevated ammonia, but more will continue to die. You posted more loss, get it ALL out.

You need to get some serious airation in that tank. All these additives make the O2 drop significantly. Cheap double bubbler at wallymart.

Big boss is right, but I did manage it for about 5 years in a 55G, 3 yrs on a canister. I only had 5 fish in the tank at any time... MAX. I had two pound of rock/gallon, and a DSB of extra fine reef sand. A HOB skimmer is a MUST at a minimum. Suggest the Remora 60G, and a HOB filter, ditch the canister=nitrate factory.

 

[tony727]

I also thought my ammonia was high, but it was because of something I dosed that gave me a false reading..But in your case it seems like the system couldn't handle it yet. Best of luck, I'm currently fighting for my fish to live as well.

 

[shesacharmer]

Your fish are better off in a bucket of ASW with a heater and a small powerhead than they are in that much ammonia soup. If the fish are out do a series of 50% water changes and you'll have it under control quickly.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

If the fish are out do like an 80% wc

 

[Schmitty4311]

I did that several weeks ago when the fish were out. The tank is great now. Just building a great eco system so it takes care of itself for the most part. And of course having it look awesome. It took a lot of research of livestock to figure what will work with what kind of life. We got a new light that is better for corals and a skimmer. Slowly adding life to the tank. About 1-2 a week. The buckets and the hospital tank did very nicely to save what we could. Now we just have to worry about unwanted hitchhikers on corals and rock. Thanks again for the wisdom guys. A defiantly cool and sometimes unfortunate learning experience.