please help

[marc200]

Ok have a serious problem

I have a-
Rio 125L
25 KG of aqua cultured live rock pre cured
hydor korilia 3 power head
Aragonite sand
TMC V2 skimmer 600
An arcadia t5 I bar
ehiem classic 2215 and 2213

ok I set my tank up and ran my skimmer and power head for 1 week
all levels where fine everything 0

Turned on my eheim filters the 2215 was full of eheim sub pro bio balls and 2213 had activated carbon and filter floss in it I ran this for a week with no ammonia,

Then I was told NOT to use the bio balls so took the filter of and took the 2213 of as well as I wanted to use the Berlin method.
After a couple of days my ammonium NH4 reading was 0.8mg/l

my rock was cycled at LFS so where is this ammonia coming from also left it to cycle for the first week as well just in case I went though a mini cycle , with no levels what’s so ever.

what I don’t understand is the first week I ran the tank with no filter and ammonia was 0 then turned on my filter and still 0 but when I turned my filter off I am getting ammonia.

so I have put my filter back on to reduce levels as I have a organ pipe coral which came in on the rock that I don’t want to kill! the ammonia has dropped to 0.4 but if i turn filter off is it just going to rise again?

I don’t want to run the bio balls but don’t know what else to do I am really stuck as my rock had no die off what so ever am using ro water I have a skimmer I have no livestock, where is it coming from?

any advice would be great as I feel like giving up now

only thing I could think of was that the live rock is not good enough quality and I need to get Fiji live rock

Sorry about the small book I have written!

thanks marc

 

[jer77]

The ammonia probably is comming from the LR since there is nothing else in your tank. Even if the LR is cured at the LFS it still sometimes needs ot be cycled, especially with a new tank.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Relax man, there is nothing in your tank right now other than the coral. Just wait the cycle out, and if you lose the coral, well it is just one coral. Another option, take the coral back to the lfs and ask them to hold it for you till your cycle finishes. Sont give up, things in a reef tank take alot of time. Nothing good comes fast in this hobby.

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Btw no live rock is better than others. As long as its live, it will do its job. The more expensive rock just is more appealing to the eye.

 

[marc200]

so would you take the filter off and see if it cycles

 

[marc200]

isn’t some rock more porous than others though, therefore better filtration or doesn’t it work like that

 

[Scuba_Steve]

ok yes you are right, more porous=more surface area....... I really dont think there would be a noticeable difference though. yes i would leave the filters off and just wait it out till.

 

[marc200]

ok thanks for your help i think i need to relax a bit but just so nervous about killing anything can’t even bring myself to brake up live rock just incase i kill something lol

 

[iggyman1971]

remember the sand is cycling as well, and there is more biological surface area on your sand bed than most of the live rock on this board.

 

[marc200]

not sure why i have ammonia still, tank been cycling a week now without the filters, wit just live rock and sand no filters are running but added another power head to get more flow around the back of the rocks just wondering why ammonia hasn’t broken down to nitrites yet i have been through the brown algae stage and now in the middle of the green hair algae stage and I thought when u reach this stage the tank has nearly finished cycling i will just have to wait and see i suppose just getting inpatient with it

Ammonia is dropping it is 0.2 today
also rocks look dirty and I when I first got it, it was really clean don’t know what’s happing with that, how do I clean it or should I wait for levels to drop and get a clean up crew to do the work for me

thanks for your help everyone

 

[iggyman1971]

If your tank has only been setup for 2-3 weeks your still in the peak of the cycle. I wouldnt expect Ammonia to lower for at least 2 more weeks then you should go thru an nitrate stage lasting 1-2 weeks. Also, your mention of hair algae leads me to think that you may have some phosphate issues are you testing for PO4 (new tanks that are going through a healthy cycle shouldn't get hair algae only diatom and maybe a small amount of coraline algae)? What type of water are you using tap or RO?
A full cycle can last 1-4 months depending on quality of rock, water, circulation & lighting. What most beginners don't realize is that this hobby requires more patience than taking care of children. The more you touch the tank the longer the cycle will last. The only thing that you need to be doing right now and for the near future is 20% weekly water changes with good RO water with 0 TDS readings and keeping you lighting cycle at about 6 hours daily.

PS. If you haven't been testing for PO4 and you start you may get low false readings because of the hair algae holding the phosphate.

I hope this helps

 

[iggyman1971]

One more thought on the Phosphate. You may want to try running a phosphate filter in a area with goo flow changing it every few days and I bet you will see the hair algae lessen if not go away.

 

[marc200]

i am using RO water have my own unit am going to add a DI onto it as well.
i don’t have any phosphate when i first set tank up and have none now, no nitrates, just ammonia. will get a phosphate remover just to be safe>

Have coraline algae, type of zoo and a organ pipe coral all of which came in with the rock, which is growing fast, just wasn’t expecting anything to be growing with ammonia.

Ok so i will do 20% water change every week was doing a small amount every other day will stop doing that then!

Also rocks look dirty, have put sand in now so what’s the best way of cleaning it?

At the moment any small bits that have fallen off the rock I have just siphoned up with a small bit of tubing, but I need to get it of the rock, is a toothbrush a good idea or do I need something finer?

thanks again

 

[iggyman1971]

Your ahead of the game with your own RO unit. You mentioned the rocks looked dirty, is it a brown dusty looking coat on the rocks? is so than that would be diatoms this will pass with the ammonia and nitrate stages I wouldn't mess with it. My advice would be to stay on top of the water changes and wait it out.

 

[marc200]

yes it is almost like brown dust i have also pointed my powerhead at the surface as i was getting a film coving the top of my tank want to put a my ehiem 2213 on with just carbon, phosphate remover and filter floss do you think this is a good idea or should i just leave the dam thing alone (carnt help myself at times)
thanks again for your help

 

[Scuba_Steve]

Believe it or not, coral can use a small amount of ammonia beneficially. At least I believe I read that. Any nastyness you can syphon off will help. I wouldnt use a toothbrush as it would just put things back in the water column, but if you do, have a slow moving syphon close to suck up what you scrub off. Your doing the right thing now, keep it up! If your using that filter, I wouldnt put the floss on it.

 

[marc200]

ok i am not going to put the filter on until i have been through a Full cycle, i am going to just sit it out and see what happens with my rock in terms of the diatoms and just let it pass in time i think that’s everything now just got to sit it out if i have any more probs i will let you know just going to keep reading!!!!!

Thanks for all your help i will keep you all posted and hopefully i will have a beautiful reef tank at the end of this!

 

[marc200]

ok and i wont use the floss!

 

[iggyman1971]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9476795#post9476795 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by marc200
Thanks for all your help i will keep you all posted and hopefully i will have a beautiful reef tank at the end of this!

You will!
Patience Grasshopper.