I have had an ammonia problem for some time now and it just went up to 4.0ppm today. Would it be a good idea to put my remaining livestock in a 20 gallon tank, drain my main tank (24 aquapod) and let it soak in warm water overnight? Then tomorrow refill it, put the liverock back in, and add a ton of live bacteria. Will that idea work or will it be too quick of a turn around? I have run many tanks after starting them with live bacteria and never had problems. This time I would not add fish for several weeks (rather than immediately like last time), I just want my coral to live. Probably will add live sand this time as well.
Restarting my tank
- Thread starter stlrams88
- Start date
That is the thing. I have no idea what it is. absolutely no idea. I had a die off a few weeks ago and it caused it to spike. I removed everything dead, and did three 50% water changes, and it didnt go away. That is why I am thinking there may be something in the tank leeching ammonia, or in the little back chamber, which is impossible to clean unless you drain the tank.
I cannot take the livestock back to the store unfortunately, our new store manager has made a rule that anything that touches our water is sellable, so I am not taking that risk.
I cannot take the livestock back to the store unfortunately, our new store manager has made a rule that anything that touches our water is sellable, so I am not taking that risk.
Probably 6+ sps frags/colonies (had an incident with a gigantic jug of b-ionic alk buffer, kind of what started the whole die-off), 3 wrasses, 2 clowns, 1 mandarin goby (yes it was WAY WAY overstocked). It was all simple mistakes I could have prevented by being responsible, but I got a little out of control with the fish population. At one point I had 2 3"+ Clarkiis in the tank and a 20 inch snowflake eel (holding for someone), so that probably had a lot to do with it as well. There were dead fish in the tank for days sometimes. Probably 6 snails died as well.
The tank was set up last september, and I wasnt running any filtration other than the sponges that came with the aquapod. Also scrubbed all the rocks several times for hair algae. So there were plenty of things that contributed to this crash that could have been prevented.
The tank was set up last september, and I wasnt running any filtration other than the sponges that came with the aquapod. Also scrubbed all the rocks several times for hair algae. So there were plenty of things that contributed to this crash that could have been prevented.
mille239
Premium Member
Wow... not to sound harsh, but it sounds like you should take whatever livestock is left, back to the 'LFS' (since you work for one) and spend the next 4 weeks (while the tank is cycling properly) reading and researching about this hobby.
you even admitted to being irresponsible, which I guess is the first step, but this post above just leaves me in disbelief why you would even ask the very first question... "why do I have an amonia problem"
I apologize for comming across so stern, but too many people move too fast and too far in this hobby.
Best of luck with everything.
No need to apologize, I would probably say the same thing if I saw this post. I just rushed the crap out of this tank. Usually I am very careful, as I have several systems running that are running more than fine. The livestock is being held for me and the tank is currently cycling. I got a little carried away when I started working at the LFS and I had access to all of these fish, and a paycheck that could buy them all. I have been researching and researching for years, and have several successful tanks, I just for sure got carried away on this one.
