How will my Candy Cane Coral and My Brain Coral be affected?

kookerson · 09/13/2007, 10:40 PM

I just now did some water testing and some of my water parameters are really concerning me........my nitrate is at 20 (which I guess isnt life threatening) and my ammonia is at .15 ppm. Other parameters are: calcium @ 550 ppm, alk @ 2.5 meq/l, pH @ 8.3 and phosphates @ 0. My temperature has been swingin between 80F and 83F How do you think my Candy Cane and Brain Coral will be affected? I just did a 10 gallon water change yesterday, and Im going to change another 10 tomorrow.......

reefD · 09/13/2007, 10:50 PM

ok your big concern now is the ammonia! no saltwater tank should ever have ammonia. this is why cycling a tank in the beginning is sooooo imp. as this creates a bacteria that consumes ammonia and when cycled correctly this bacteria never allows ammonia to grow into detectable levels.

first imp. question is how long has this tank been set up?

kookerson · 09/13/2007, 11:32 PM

The tank has been set up for 3 1/2 months....Ive already gone through the initial cycle, I even waited 2 extra weeks before adding my first fish just to make sure everything was OK.....the last fish i added was almost three weeks ago, a pink skunk clown......

kookerson · 09/13/2007, 11:37 PM

I just had an epifany.....would a dead snail and dead hermit crab cause that much ammonia? I just plucked them out of my tank about 2 hours ago, adn they looked like they had been pretty deteriorated.....

reefD · 09/13/2007, 11:40 PM

ik . well my friend i know how frustrating this can be. but cycling a saltwater tank can be tedious and even prolonged by rushing things. let me explain to you what happens when a tank cycles..not to say u dont already know. first the tank has an ammonia spike which is reduced by a bacteria that consumes it. this bacteria has a waste(nitrites) and it blooms another bacteria that feeds on it and its waste is nitrates. nitrates doesnt signal another bacteria to grow cause there isnt one that eats nitrates. instead water changes orpplants/algea eats it. so when a tank cycles it has a population of ammonia consuming bacteria and nitrite consuming bacteria. thus a well cycled tank will have a suffiecent ammonia consuming bacteria so that ammonia never spikes(this is imp and why we must cycle tanks) , also enough nitrite consuming bacteria that it doesnt spiuke. so you now understand if that your getting ammonia levels either your tank didnt cycle well or you added/rushed live stock and it shocked/overwhelmed your ammonia consuming bacteria and it now must repopulate in order to reduce the ammonia...aka recycle.

reefD · 09/13/2007, 11:44 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by kookerson
I just had an epifany.....would a dead snail and dead hermit crab cause that much ammonia? I just plucked them out of my tank about 2 hours ago, adn they looked like they had been pretty deteriorated.....

how big is this tank

reefD · 09/13/2007, 11:49 PM

anyways. yeah it could but suspect them dieing due to the spike. a dead snail and crab in a 75 gallon would not be any cause for an ammonia spike. my 29 had a death a few years back and i just left him in there to rott(couldnt reach him) . and my tank never had an ammonia spike.

reefD · 09/13/2007, 11:53 PM

the key is to add slow at the begging and even when mature. adding a few bio loads in a few weeks can be ddetramental to an aged tank let alone a less than 6 month old system. cycling comes first then being carefull not to shock the bacteria with too fast additions. remember if it poops its a bioload. corals , crabs,snails, all bioloads and effect the bacteria population when added. too much shock means lost of bacteria to effieciently consume ammonia.

kookerson · 09/14/2007, 06:38 AM

I appreciate the advice. This really caught me by surprise, and I already thought I was going slow enough.......as this is exactly what I didnt want to happen..........do you think my corals will be OK? Is there anything I can do other than water changes? Its a 75 Gal, and I just very recently chaned the lighting to T5 lighting.......

kookerson · 09/15/2007, 12:15 PM

Well, turns out that I just did the test wrong, or something. Yesterday I tested and today I tested and both times got a reading of 0 PPM for ammonia, and my brain ate about 1/2 cube of mysis last night.....so everything looks good! Im still going to keep testing.....but I cant figure out why I got a mis-reading.......anywho, thanks for the help! : )

09/13/2007, 10:40 PM	#1
kookerson Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,017	How will my Candy Cane Coral and My Brain Coral be affected? I just now did some water testing and some of my water parameters are really concerning me........my nitrate is at 20 (which I guess isnt life threatening) and my ammonia is at .15 ppm. Other parameters are: calcium @ 550 ppm, alk @ 2.5 meq/l, pH @ 8.3 and phosphates @ 0. My temperature has been swingin between 80F and 83F How do you think my Candy Cane and Brain Coral will be affected? I just did a 10 gallon water change yesterday, and Im going to change another 10 tomorrow.......

09/13/2007, 10:50 PM	#2
reefD Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Schenectady,New York Posts: 4,968	ok your big concern now is the ammonia! no saltwater tank should ever have ammonia. this is why cycling a tank in the beginning is sooooo imp. as this creates a bacteria that consumes ammonia and when cycled correctly this bacteria never allows ammonia to grow into detectable levels. first imp. question is how long has this tank been set up? __________________ DAVID Current Tank Info: it has four sides and a bottom...oh yeah and it has water in it. lol

09/13/2007, 11:40 PM	#5
reefD Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Schenectady,New York Posts: 4,968	ik . well my friend i know how frustrating this can be. but cycling a saltwater tank can be tedious and even prolonged by rushing things. let me explain to you what happens when a tank cycles..not to say u dont already know. first the tank has an ammonia spike which is reduced by a bacteria that consumes it. this bacteria has a waste(nitrites) and it blooms another bacteria that feeds on it and its waste is nitrates. nitrates doesnt signal another bacteria to grow cause there isnt one that eats nitrates. instead water changes orpplants/algea eats it. so when a tank cycles it has a population of ammonia consuming bacteria and nitrite consuming bacteria. thus a well cycled tank will have a suffiecent ammonia consuming bacteria so that ammonia never spikes(this is imp and why we must cycle tanks) , also enough nitrite consuming bacteria that it doesnt spiuke. so you now understand if that your getting ammonia levels either your tank didnt cycle well or you added/rushed live stock and it shocked/overwhelmed your ammonia consuming bacteria and it now must repopulate in order to reduce the ammonia...aka recycle. __________________ DAVID Current Tank Info: it has four sides and a bottom...oh yeah and it has water in it. lol

09/13/2007, 11:49 PM	#7
reefD Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Schenectady,New York Posts: 4,968	anyways. yeah it could but suspect them dieing due to the spike. a dead snail and crab in a 75 gallon would not be any cause for an ammonia spike. my 29 had a death a few years back and i just left him in there to rott(couldnt reach him) . and my tank never had an ammonia spike. __________________ DAVID Current Tank Info: it has four sides and a bottom...oh yeah and it has water in it. lol

09/13/2007, 11:53 PM	#8
reefD Registered Member Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Schenectady,New York Posts: 4,968	the key is to add slow at the begging and even when mature. adding a few bio loads in a few weeks can be ddetramental to an aged tank let alone a less than 6 month old system. cycling comes first then being carefull not to shock the bacteria with too fast additions. remember if it poops its a bioload. corals , crabs,snails, all bioloads and effect the bacteria population when added. too much shock means lost of bacteria to effieciently consume ammonia. __________________ DAVID Current Tank Info: it has four sides and a bottom...oh yeah and it has water in it. lol

09/13/2007, 11:32 PM	#3
kookerson Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,017	The tank has been set up for 3 1/2 months....Ive already gone through the initial cycle, I even waited 2 extra weeks before adding my first fish just to make sure everything was OK.....the last fish i added was almost three weeks ago, a pink skunk clown......

09/13/2007, 11:37 PM	#4
kookerson Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,017	I just had an epifany.....would a dead snail and dead hermit crab cause that much ammonia? I just plucked them out of my tank about 2 hours ago, adn they looked like they had been pretty deteriorated.....

09/14/2007, 06:38 AM	#9
kookerson Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,017	I appreciate the advice. This really caught me by surprise, and I already thought I was going slow enough.......as this is exactly what I didnt want to happen..........do you think my corals will be OK? Is there anything I can do other than water changes? Its a 75 Gal, and I just very recently chaned the lighting to T5 lighting.......

09/15/2007, 12:15 PM	#10
kookerson Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2006 Posts: 1,017	Well, turns out that I just did the test wrong, or something. Yesterday I tested and today I tested and both times got a reading of 0 PPM for ammonia, and my brain ate about 1/2 cube of mysis last night.....so everything looks good! Im still going to keep testing.....but I cant figure out why I got a mis-reading.......anywho, thanks for the help! : )