New Tank

[Grayson84]

Hello,

I have a 75 gal tank with cpr sump and a panworld 50px external pump for the main pump. Reef octopus protein skimmer, two little fishies phosban reactor that i run gfo mixed with activated carbon in, finnex digital heater and a artica chiller there is a external iwalki pump hooked up to a manifold that i made driving these items.

I know that i made a huge mistake not having the money for the rock so i slowly added fish 1 at a time there is a Naso tang, a Powder Blue tang, and a Sailfin tang in there along with a few turbo snails. last week i added aprox 140lbs of rock and my ammonia has climbed to around .25 or less hard to tell with api test kit i am doing 25% water changes every other day with good RO/DI water i tried nite out ii and in my opinion it did nothing. is there anything else that i can do to help this. my fish seem to be doing fine and are not stressing at all. i have also cut back on feedings to about every 3 days.

 

[worm5406]

The rock is in the middle of cycling, it sounds. I assume that this was dry rock?

Water changes will help, but if you miss one you will end up with stressed fish. It would be better to house them in a QT tank while it cycles.

I would continue to feed normally, just cut back on the amount of food.

Swap out your GFO and Carbon too.

Try a different ammonia tester too. API has a bad rap, by some, but anything that is real low sometimes gets a positive hit to the .25 level.

This is going to take daily checks until it get cycled.

Can we get a full tank shot and a list of all your test numbers? pH Nitrate Nitrite Phosphate temp salinity

 

[ca1ore]

Might want to post this in the general reef discussion forum. Folks here are uber-capable, no question, but you will get more 'eyeballs' there.

Frankly, I think you are setting yourself up for major headaches. I've the tendency to 'push' my fish load too, but with a Naso, Powder Blue and Sailfin in a 75 you are asking for trouble.

Did you cycle the tank initially and with what (biofilter, sand, some kind of media canister)? What kind of rock did you add? If it was cured rock from a LFS, then you ought to be OK. Likewise if it was dry rock. If it was uncured, or only partly cured then it will be a problem. Did you have ammonia prior to adding the rock?

 

[worm5406]

Thanks ca1ore.... I did not even realize which section I was in when I read and replied to this.