Ammonia Woes

[justinmcleod]

Well, I received the second package a little over two weeks ago now and there have been some major problems. One of the anenomes died a few days into it, which ushered in an invertebrate holocaust. I am now left with one sponge, some hermits, the hard coral covered in brown polyps (one of my favorites), an urchin and one of the sea cucumbers. The first anenome died overnight and when I woke up the ammonia was predictably high. I did a 30% water change and had to go to work. From then on I have literally been doing 25%-50% water changes daily to battle the consistently high ammonia. Along the way the critters died, but when the cucumber died I think it poisoned the tank because it killed literally ALL the snails and the peppermint shrimp instantaneously. So, for the last week I had not been making any progress and last night did an 85% water change, which brought the levels down to around .5 ppm, but still not to zero.

At this point I am jaded and realized that what livestock is left is hardy enough to go forward no matter what, but I would appreciate any thoughts on why the sustained elevated ammonia when all of my parameters are fine and use RO/DI water. Also, I did check when I drained a lot of the water and did not see anything dead that could be leaching ammonia.

Thanks for any help or suggestions moving forward. Cheers.

 

[liverock]

Re: Ammonia Woes

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15146199#post15146199 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinmcleod
Well, I received the second package a little over two weeks ago now and there have been some major problems. One of the anenomes died a few days into it, which ushered in an invertebrate holocaust. I am now left with one sponge, some hermits, the hard coral covered in brown polyps (one of my favorites), an urchin and one of the sea cucumbers. The first anenome died overnight and when I woke up the ammonia was predictably high. I did a 30% water change and had to go to work. From then on I have literally been doing 25%-50% water changes daily to battle the consistently high ammonia. Along the way the critters died, but when the cucumber died I think it poisoned the tank because it killed literally ALL the snails and the peppermint shrimp instantaneously. So, for the last week I had not been making any progress and last night did an 85% water change, which brought the levels down to around .5 ppm, but still not to zero.

At this point I am jaded and realized that what livestock is left is hardy enough to go forward no matter what, but I would


appreciate any thoughts on why the sustained elevated ammonia




when all of my parameters are fine and use RO/DI water. Also, I did check when I drained a lot of the water and did not see anything dead that could be leaching ammonia.

Thanks for any help or suggestions moving forward. Cheers.


Bummer!

The ammonia is coming from something....the cukes are non toxic, so they are not the culprit.....did you inspect each rock with your nose?

I suspect something on a rock is causing your grief....

try the nose inspect....if you find anything smelly, ditch it....and the ammonia should come around....

then get with me on some invert replenisment!

Richard TBS

 

[justinmcleod]

Thanks Richard! It has been a frustrating week watching the wonderful stuff you bought me waste away! You are right, I will take the rocks out one by one and smell them to ensure something hasn't died on them. Thanks!

 

[liverock]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15146815#post15146815 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by justinmcleod
Thanks Richard! It has been a frustrating week watching the wonderful stuff you bought me waste away! You are right, I will take the rocks out one by one and smell them to ensure something hasn't died on them. Thanks!

Do that and you should find your source....not to worry, we can fix this!

Sea ya
Richard TBS:rollface: :rollface: :rollface: