I was testing my water today like I do every other day. I was going to go purchase some snails and the ammonia level spiked to 2.0 and Nitrates were 20, nitrite 0, ph 7.8. All I have in the tank is a 2.5 inch sandbed and 40# of live rock in a 55g. No fish, snails, crabs nothing. I took about 20 gallons of the water out and replaced with water that I had made up a week ago in jugs. The tank was setup on July 11th and had never seen an ammonia level that high . What could have happened ?
Ammonia spike
- Thread starter prolx
- Start date
six.line
New member
~scratching head~
Not sure. You could have had a hitch hiker on the rock bite the big one without seeing it. Things are so hard to find in and about the rock work. I thought my starfish died in my 29 gallon and 1 week later he appeared out of some remote crevice.
The more important question is, will the spike go down?
Keep up on the water changes, run some activated carbon, and make sure your'e growing chaeto in the refugium.
HTH
Not sure. You could have had a hitch hiker on the rock bite the big one without seeing it. Things are so hard to find in and about the rock work. I thought my starfish died in my 29 gallon and 1 week later he appeared out of some remote crevice.
The more important question is, will the spike go down?
Keep up on the water changes, run some activated carbon, and make sure your'e growing chaeto in the refugium.
HTH
ginger7286
New member
Has the tank been seeded with good bacteria? I do not have a refugium either, I would not worry about that we all have preferences for our filtration system. I would check the rock closely. You may have bad things living there or something may died that you did not know you had ie., large crab(s), sea cucumber etc. Check every crevasse for anything slimy, rotting, in general anything NASTY.
six.line
New member
It's not a bad thing or a good thing. It's a thing you just have to deal with. I like them, and I think that they're infinitely beneficial if you have the means to set one up. You'll find that there are few absolute necessities to keeping a reef system (except for the obvious basics... i.e. a fish tank, salt water, fish, and other critters. 
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Aquarist007
New member
how long has your tank been cycling?
Aquarist007
New member
oops I just read July 11--sorry.
the spike is probably caused by the curring of the live rock. Live rock can take up to months to be fully curred and can hold alot of stuff in it--nitrates, dead stuff which contributes to ammonia.
do you have a protein skimmer--probably first in importance as far as biological filtration .
