ammonia

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Salti

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I just want to know, I have cycled my tank for 2 months, when
The levels droped to 0 I added 3 small fish 1 damsel and 2 clowns ,no live rock
A month or so later I added 4 kg good quality LR and a blennie , which came with
The rock,and one fish I wanted from the very start a foxface, now what I want to
Know is what will happen to the ammonia. And how long will it take to settle again?

Thanx

Shane
 
With how much live rock did you run the tank for two months?
How big is the tank?
What other filtration do you have? Skimmer?
 
Last edited:
Nothing when it was cycling,I have a canister filter that I clean every week
And a hang on reef octopus skimmer.
 
Salti said:
Nothing when it was cycling,I have a canister filter that I clean every week
And a hang on reef octopus skimmer.
Click to expand...

So you run the tank without live rock for two months and then added the fish and the 4kg rock?
 
yes a good question is how many liters does your tank hold ?

The live rock if mature and taken home in water shouldnt put any ammonia into the tank, but the fish themselves breath out a small ammount of ammonia , the majority of it will come from the un eaten food and ofcourse the eaten food excreated as waist.

if you controll the feeding and your water volume is large enough to disperse the ammonia that your fish produce , it shouldnt be a problem , but a smaller water volume will spike quickly to toxic levels.

200 liters or more should be fine to disperse the initial ammonia enough not to be toxic if you are not overfeeding.

You should be adding a Bactera of your choice when adding new stock.

Test the water or take it to one of the shops to test for you and keep a eye on it.
It should take about a week to 10 days for the ammonia to convert to nitrite , wich is also toxic and that should last about 14 days ( this time period is if your filter is converting ammonias and nitrites with a setteled filter system.)
If the filter was not ready , there will be a high ammonia and nitrite at the same time after a week to 2 weeks.

But - more tank ifo will help.
David
 
Isn't live rock what cycles the tank? If you keep cleaning the new filter how will you build up bacteria? When I set up my tank I used old water from a tank that was running already, I had a fair amount of LR and used real sea sand which I collected in buckets, still wet and full of natural bacteria. Try to get as much LR as possible. And not the stuff they dry out then toss in a big tub and fill with water, LR that has little plants growing on it and coraline algae.

Not sure how big your tank is but try to have as much LR as you can? Don't forget your stability and various supplements. Everythin will balance out if you give it time, don't add more fish til your bacteria has had a chance to thrive.
 
Its a 226lt. 4 months old. Has a canister that I clean every week and I m running a
Bh 1000 reef octo skimmer my water get topped up everyday about 3 to 4.liters, I was wondering this will b
A good time to change the carbon?.
 
You are supposed to cycle the tank WITH live rock for a month or so, then when the ammonia and nitrite test 0, only then you put fish in the tank. I hope that the live rock you added is cured already, otherwise you will get an ammonia spike.
Did you test your water already?
What water do you use for top ups?
Please read the link in my signature on starting a marine tank - I think you need the info.
 
Salti said:
Its a 226lt. 4 months old. Has a canister that I clean every week and I m running a
Bh 1000 reef octo skimmer my water get topped up everyday about 3 to 4.liters, I was wondering this will b
A good time to change the carbon?.
Click to expand...

Your problems revolve around cleaning the canister every week. By cleaning the canister you are removing bacteria that is trying to establish and perform the the filtration process. Too clean is sometimes not a good thing. But too dirty the same.

So by cleaning the filter each week you are in fact removing all the aerobic bacteria and starting the cycle from the beginning.

Tanks can be successfully run on canister filters. I have two. However there are a few recommendations. The washing of the filter media is a "No No" if it starts to clog, only rinse a small portion in the water you are discarding at water change time.

This will result in an Ammonia and nitrite extraction from the system. The nitrate extraction can be managed in a number of ways. This depends on the bio load of your system.

For now dont change or clean the canister filter. Monitor the Ammonia and Nitrite until they are < 0,01 ppm. The fish and coral happyness will improve. But the nitrate will increase. So before you are confused with all this info concentrate on geting the ammonia and nitrite down as this is imperative to the LS you have.

Once this is acchieved we can talk about changing, or modifing the filtration system to suite budget and LS requirements.
 
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