after cycling, ammonia spike!

irinki16 · 04/15/2006, 12:59 PM

i bought a cube master's 12G nano tank about a little more than a month ago. when i went to my LFS i asked what tests i would be needing right now. i bought one of those dip stick test (nitrite, nitrate, ph). i also had about 8 lbs. of live rock and 10 lbs. of live sand. after about a week, i ran out of test strips. so i went to the LFS and asked him what did i need the most right now. he told me to buy the nitrite test (not the strip kind). so i did.
a few days later, my nitrite was down to 0. so i went back to the LFS and told him that my nitrite was done. i asked if i needed to buy a starter fish and he said that i could just get whatever i wanted. i wanted an anemone (no one told me that these were not for begginers!!) and a cleaner shrimp (no one told me that we weren't suppose to add these before having fish).
The next day, my shrimp died!! so i went to the LFS and told them about my shrimp. they didn't have any guarantees and just asked me how the anemone was doing. and i said he was doing fine, which i thought he was. about two days later after my shrimp died, my anemone started looking ill, but i didn't really know how they're suppose to look since i never had one. i told that to the LFS and they said that he was probably stressed and give him time. and so i did. i thought he was eating fine too, until he spit some brine shrimp out later on in the day, which the LFS told me was normal. about 4 days passed and i noticed that he was "peeling off" his skin. and on the 5th day i saw these stringy tan colored strings showing on my anemone's skin. when i went to my LFS, he told me that the anemone was dying.
he died on the 6th day, and i decided to bring my water to the LFS to get tested. he tested the nitrite and the ph. my ph was low (7.2) which he said was probably the reason my anemone died. he told me to buy a buffer (KENT) and wait until the PH went up. when my PH went up to 8.2 and nitrite was still at 0, i bought a clown and an astrea snail the next day. the clown died that night and the snail died the next day.
after these happened, i decided not to trust my LFS anymore and went to another one. i brought a sample of my water and they told me that my ammonia was high. i was really mad because my LFS told me i didn't need ammonia. so i listened to this LFS and bought all the tests they told me i am going to need at this moment (ammonia, ph, nitrite). i told them about my situation and they told me to make sure i get all of the parts of the anemone (all skin and tenticles that might of been "pulled off") and siphon the top portion of the sand and do a 50% water change.
i also read on the internet that i needed at least 1lb. per gallon of live rock and at least 1lb per gallon of live sand. so instead of buying more creatures, i bought these instead hoping it would help my tank. now i have 13 lbs. of live rock and a little less than 20 lbs. of live sand in my 12G nano. i also added bio spira. it's been a few days and my ammonia level is still high.
what am i doing wrong and what can i do to correct it. it's been more than a month (probably 6 weeks) since i started my tank. i also have a lot of dark burgandy colored corraline and a few pink coralline algae growing; a few diatoms (which i read means my tank is done cycling) and a little light green colored algae. someone please help!!

bertoni · 04/15/2006, 01:28 PM

To Reef Central

I would do some water changes, maybe 2g at a time, and wait for the ammonia to disappear. The tank is still very young.

In the mean time, this article should help you understand water parameters:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php

I think you'll be better off doing your own testing and interpretation.

The shrimp likely died due to bad water conditions. They will live nicely without fish.

irinki16 · 04/15/2006, 02:29 PM

UPDATE: i checked my water parameters once again. nitrate was 0 ppm last week and is now at 5.0 ppm. ph went from 8.2 to 8.0. ammonia was at 8.0 ppm a few days ago and is now at 1.0 ppm. i don't know much about this hobby, but this sounds like my tank is cycling itself all over again. is it?

bertoni · 04/15/2006, 08:27 PM

I suspect the dead anemone and other animals have overwhelmed the biological filter.

04/15/2006, 12:59 PM	#1
irinki16 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 12	after cycling, ammonia spike! i bought a cube master's 12G nano tank about a little more than a month ago. when i went to my LFS i asked what tests i would be needing right now. i bought one of those dip stick test (nitrite, nitrate, ph). i also had about 8 lbs. of live rock and 10 lbs. of live sand. after about a week, i ran out of test strips. so i went to the LFS and asked him what did i need the most right now. he told me to buy the nitrite test (not the strip kind). so i did. a few days later, my nitrite was down to 0. so i went back to the LFS and told him that my nitrite was done. i asked if i needed to buy a starter fish and he said that i could just get whatever i wanted. i wanted an anemone (no one told me that these were not for begginers!!) and a cleaner shrimp (no one told me that we weren't suppose to add these before having fish). The next day, my shrimp died!! so i went to the LFS and told them about my shrimp. they didn't have any guarantees and just asked me how the anemone was doing. and i said he was doing fine, which i thought he was. about two days later after my shrimp died, my anemone started looking ill, but i didn't really know how they're suppose to look since i never had one. i told that to the LFS and they said that he was probably stressed and give him time. and so i did. i thought he was eating fine too, until he spit some brine shrimp out later on in the day, which the LFS told me was normal. about 4 days passed and i noticed that he was "peeling off" his skin. and on the 5th day i saw these stringy tan colored strings showing on my anemone's skin. when i went to my LFS, he told me that the anemone was dying. he died on the 6th day, and i decided to bring my water to the LFS to get tested. he tested the nitrite and the ph. my ph was low (7.2) which he said was probably the reason my anemone died. he told me to buy a buffer (KENT) and wait until the PH went up. when my PH went up to 8.2 and nitrite was still at 0, i bought a clown and an astrea snail the next day. the clown died that night and the snail died the next day. after these happened, i decided not to trust my LFS anymore and went to another one. i brought a sample of my water and they told me that my ammonia was high. i was really mad because my LFS told me i didn't need ammonia. so i listened to this LFS and bought all the tests they told me i am going to need at this moment (ammonia, ph, nitrite). i told them about my situation and they told me to make sure i get all of the parts of the anemone (all skin and tenticles that might of been "pulled off") and siphon the top portion of the sand and do a 50% water change. i also read on the internet that i needed at least 1lb. per gallon of live rock and at least 1lb per gallon of live sand. so instead of buying more creatures, i bought these instead hoping it would help my tank. now i have 13 lbs. of live rock and a little less than 20 lbs. of live sand in my 12G nano. i also added bio spira. it's been a few days and my ammonia level is still high. what am i doing wrong and what can i do to correct it. it's been more than a month (probably 6 weeks) since i started my tank. i also have a lot of dark burgandy colored corraline and a few pink coralline algae growing; a few diatoms (which i read means my tank is done cycling) and a little light green colored algae. someone please help!!

04/15/2006, 01:28 PM	#2
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	*To Reef Central* I would do some water changes, maybe 2g at a time, and wait for the ammonia to disappear. The tank is still very young. In the mean time, this article should help you understand water parameters: http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php I think you'll be better off doing your own testing and interpretation. The shrimp likely died due to bad water conditions. They will live nicely without fish. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

04/15/2006, 08:27 PM	#4
bertoni RC Mod Join Date: Mar 2002 Location: Mountain View, CA, USA Posts: 88,616	I suspect the dead anemone and other animals have overwhelmed the biological filter. __________________ Jonathan Bertoni

04/15/2006, 02:29 PM	#3
irinki16 Registered Member Join Date: Apr 2006 Posts: 12	UPDATE: i checked my water parameters once again. nitrate was 0 ppm last week and is now at 5.0 ppm. ph went from 8.2 to 8.0. ammonia was at 8.0 ppm a few days ago and is now at 1.0 ppm. i don't know much about this hobby, but this sounds like my tank is cycling itself all over again. is it?