Big Ammonia Problem after my Upgrade

[luntiz]

Hi, I use to have a 65g that I just transferred over to my 150g. I added about 100 lbs of LR from an established tank and the 70-80lbs of LR I had from my 65g. Now my ammonia has spiked to 1.0 and could be on the rise again. I thought that by adding my previously established LR and LR from another tank that I wouldn't have to do a cycle, but it looks like I'm deathly wrong. All my fishes are lethargic and breathing heavily.

What should I do?!?!?!

 

[Reefun]

I would do a water change and add some or more carbon.

 

[urchinkiller15]

I would do a huge water change.

 

[Sk8r]

No water change. Make new saltwater in a quarantine tank equal to salinity of tank, match temperature, transfer fish into new salt water and aerate as hard as possible. If you can, add cheato to the quarantine tank and hope it has enough pods to keep the mandy alive: I would suggest you find a home for him, because it is going to cost you a fortune in bought pods to feed him during this tank's cycle and rebirth...your other alternative is to set up a meaningful fuge, about 20-30 gallons, and get it to feed that quarantine tank. That would shoot enough pods into your newly set up 150 once that is running.
No sense changing water on the 150: it will be uninhabitable for the next little while, and no sense just starting the cycle over again. Let it cycle, but have your fish and inverts out of there. The live rock will be fine: it is driving the cycle, and will straighten out as your tank does.

 

[luntiz]

I dont have another tank to place my fishes in, should I try AmmoLock or Bio-Spira?

 

[otrlynn]

In my opinion, Ammo Lock is a good emergency solution, but if you don't have another tank and can't set one up, use it and be prepared to start doing water changes. From my experience using Ammo Lock with a QT, it is not a substitute for water changes. That said, you are going to have to have a lot of saltwater on hand to do water changes that will be large enough to have positive effect on 150 gallons of water. Can you set up a temporary tank in a rubbermaid bin, or buy a cheapie all-in-one tank kit from Wal-mart? You really should have a quarantine tank anyway...

 

[kevin2000]

Major water change is in order ... and you should make up a Major supply so you have plenty of mature water for additional water changes.

Use of prime or similar product will help mitiage some of the ammonia issues .. but count on significant water changes until the tank stabilizes.

Your goal is zero ammonia.

If you only have a few fish consider purchasing an inexpensive small tank (ten gallon tank only cost $10) - doing frequent water change in a small tank is less expensive than a big tank.

 

[alextheromanian]

listen to SK8TR!

if you dont have a spare tank go to walmart abd buy a rubbermaid tub...id go with the 45 gal one since it might take a while to finish cycling again.


throw a heater a powerhead in there and a good skimmer and keep the fish in. this way your tank can cycle while your fish stay in clean water....also keep an eye on the water in the tub since it doesnt have much of any bacteria to clean itslef....

when youre donw with this id keep a tub full of SW with some sand in there JUST for situations like this...hopefully you wont run into any more but its always good to have a hospital tank

 

[Macimage]

Go to Walmart or Home Depot and purchase a few large tote bins for $8. Add a heater and a powerhead for oxygen to each. Your fish most likely will die in your display tank if they are already lethargic and breathing heavily. Your tank will probably get worse as it does through a cycle. Be prepared to do water changes on the totes unless you can find some of your live rock that is 100% cured to put into them. You can test it by putting it in a salt bucket with some new saltwater. But this is a step two after you get everything moved and have some time to let it sit and see if you can find some good pieces.

You can also look in the local classifieds for a used 40-75 gallon cheap setup. After you are done with it, you can sell it for what you paid. It beats losing your fish.

Joyce

 

[alextheromanian]

oh reason being is if you do water changes the live rock will take longer to cycle...you need to use the bad water to your advantage and leave it in there as an open invitation for helpful bacteria to grow if you keep taking the junk out youre only going to prolongue this cycle.



yes to the biospira...ive always used it but i think it only helps if you DOUBLE the ammount of what you need.

 

[Macimage]

P.S. I see you are in Los Angeles, you can also post a Need Help Thread (put your location in the thread) in the S. Calif. section of RC to see if anyone local can hold your fish or loan you a setup:

http://reefcentral.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=50

Good luck!
Joyce

 

[luntiz]

The thing is all the LR I got was cured already, I think the spike is from having some of the LR out of the water for about an hour and a half, could the NH4 eventually decrease to 0, or would it spike up even more before it gets down to 0?

 

[kevin2000]

Yes ammonia will eventually reach zero .. but since its toxic to fish you need to get it to zero now. Quick water change is in order ... QT would be nice but even if you go that route you need to do a water change before you go QT shopping.

 

[luntiz]

All over it, I've had these fish for over a year and I would hate to see any of them go.

 

[tcwayne]

Boy did I learn the hard way awhile back. After my experience, I will never go into a new tank without setting it up first and letting it sit and do it's thing. While keeping all livestock in a QT or leaving them in the old tank. I lost all my fish when I moved into a 90 from a 46 bow. Kept telling myself It will be o.k., I was wrong. My .02 says always have a QT on hand even if it's just a rubbermaid.

 

[luntiz]

5:38 AM - All fish are dead.

The only bright side is that at least I tried to do whatever I could, but its a real bummer...

 

[tcwayne]

sorry dude I know how it feels.:mad2: :mad2: :mad2: :mad2:

 

[suzimcmullen]

Oh...I'm so sorry! This makes me just sick. And I need to move my 29 gallon tank so that I can finish laying carpet squares in that room. I've been afraid to move my live rock and water into temp buckets in order to be able to lift the stand and tank on to the other carpet for this reason! I am afraid it's going to send my tank into a tizzy.

You couldn't have known it would get this bad. UGH!

 

[otrlynn]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12990337#post12990337 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by suzimcmullen
Oh...I'm so sorry! This makes me just sick. And I need to move my 29 gallon tank so that I can finish laying carpet squares in that room. I've been afraid to move my live rock and water into temp buckets in order to be able to lift the stand and tank on to the other carpet for this reason! I am afraid it's going to send my tank into a tizzy.

You couldn't have known it would get this bad. UGH!

Suzi, since you don't have that big a tank, you could probably put the contents of your tank in buckets, keeping as much of your water as possible. Drain the tank down so that if just barely covers your sand, then move the tank without disturbing the sand. As long as you don't have a hugely deep and heavy sand bed, I would think this would be okay. If you end up disturbing the sand when you re-aquascape, you could siphon out the cloudy water and discard it. Do your thing with the carpet then set up the tank in the new location. I don't think you'll have much of a cycle, since you are not adding anything new. Test the water the next few days and be ready to do a water change.

Sorry for the tank hi-jack and sorry for the fish losses!