Reducing Amonia

[bigfalcon36]

Hey Everyone-

I tested my tank today :blown: and it seems there may have been more die off than originally thought of from me moving the tank. In return for the moving the tank has some pretty high amonia levels. Is there a product out there that I can locally or any type of algea that I can buy to reduce this? As with everything, I was hoping to get soem fast reults. Recommendations please!

Thanks again everyone!

Travis

[ohioreef]

Unfortunately there are no "fast" solutions in this hobby.

The best thing is water changes. Otherwise you have to wait until the bacteria catch up.

[Slicktrax]

There are products available to help with it (see below), but i would personally go with frequent water changes and time. unfortunately it sounds like the tank is going through another cycle.

ammonia remover (http://www.marinedepot.com/md_viewItem.asp?idproduct=HG11480)

[ohioreef]

Heads up: If you read the description, it says that it should be used exclusively in freshwater.

"Ammonia Remover should be used exclusively in freshwater as its ionic functions release captured ammonia in brackish and saltwater."

[bigfalcon36]

that's what i figured...I may have to set up the refuge tomorrow.

[Slicktrax]

i didnt catch that when searching, good eyes

[Micki]

There is a product called Amquel. I have used it before when my tank crashed. I wouldn't suggest long term use, but it will "help" in a pinch to at least get you going in the right direction.

[redpyro]

i agree with Amquel it doesnt remove ammonia sot the cycle wont stop. However it makes the ammonia less toxic to your tank. Therefor the cycle will still work its way out and you wont have poison ammonia in your tank.

My suggestion,
20 % water change plus amquel. Do this of 3 days and test again.

[redpyro]

something isnt right...did i just tell someone to test their tank?

[Micki]

WOW... I'm impressed er Shocked er something! I didn't think you had those words in your vocabulary!!! :D

[redpyro]

well i just was down stairs with a screw driver and hammer busting away in the old tank. Actually i had to break a rock in 2 to divide the xenia away from the mutant mushroom. Successful it was.

[bigfalcon36]

anyone have the tools to drill a tank out for me??

[Micki]

Originally posted by redpyro
well i just was down stairs with a screw driver and hammer busting away in the old tank. Actually i had to break a rock in 2 to divide the xenia away from the mutant mushroom. Successful it was.

Glad to hear it was successful!!! :D

[redpyro]

xenia doesnt like being bumped around like that...but is already recoving. the shroom lost all its water and was still bigger than a CD. thing is huge

[Micki]

Do I hear FRAG???

[redpyro]

i am waiting on the stupid mushroom to split, it wont even touching other things. it just grows....i dont have the heart to dice him up yet. even though i know it wont hurt him. if he gets much bigger we will be a pain in my butt and i will bust out the scissors on him

[Micki]

I know the feeling, that kind of how I feel about my toadstool. I may jump into that this week though. Anyone want a toadstool frag??? :)

[bigfalcon36]

I would if my AMMONIA wasnt though the roof, I got the Amquel plus, seems to be the stuff, I went through PetSmart to get it.

By the way good discovery marinelife! PetSmart online printouts saved me $5 on that stuff alone!

[Slicktrax]

what color it your toadstool micki

[Micki]

Kind of a pinkish fleshish color.

[redpyro]

standard toadstool...i dont think the toadstool comes in any other color does it?

[Micki]

Well I did have a purple one once, but the daggone dye that I used messed my tank up! UGH! I hate when that happens...







J/K :D

[Micki]

Hey Slicktrax, you can see it in my avitar. My lawnmower blenny is sitting on it in the picture. It isn't opening up like that any more so I'm going to frag it.

There is actually the same pic in my gallery, but up closer.

[Slicktrax]

i didnt know if they came in different colors or not, that is the same color as mine

[Micki]

Really? What color is yours?

EDIT: read it wrong sorry.

[Micki]

Hey Bigfalcon, hows the tank and amonia???

[bigfalcon36]

It's getting better, I have that Amquel Plus going to work on it, plus I have done 2 six gallon water changes the last 4 days. I also redid the plumbing on my skimmer so that the water ran out of it faster and it has been skimming non-stop sinse. the problem is I dont know if my skimmer is removing the amquel plus from the water. i have been testing it in the morning before I have been going to work and it seems to be getting better. I also think that I am going to set up a refuge this weekend in my old 20G, so we'll see!

Also, does anyone know where I can get any reflectors for my T5s at....I have 8-54watt so I am hoping to get them cheap, I have found them online but the are $20-$25 each. Or if anyone knows where I can get the stainless/mirrored aluminum at let know!

[redpyro]

home depot should have reflective aluminum i would think, you would have to bend it yourself

[ohioreef]

I may have to look for my hood. I've got the bulbs with the internal reflectors, but I'm still getting a fair amount of light going up rather than down.

[Micki]

Hey Gary, did you feed your fishies yet???

[redpyro]

food is overrated

[Micki]

LOL... Well I grinded upi those squid, octopus and cuttle fish plus added a few toher things. When Gary stopped by today I gave some to him to see if his fishies and coral liked it.

[redpyro]

did yours?

[Micki]

yep loved it!

[redpyro]

excellent!

[Micki]

It wasn't fun making it though...YUK!

[redpyro]

but it will last a long time

[Micki]

Yep, I'm freezing it in the old formula one tray as we speak!

[redpyro]

that will work, and if you dont want a hole cube instead of cutting the cubes which would be gross, just dont fill the tray all the way up

[Micki]

Good idea never thougth of that. I may do the next ones like that.

[redpyro]

i'm here to help

[bigfalcon36]

red-

about those reflectors, I went to lowes this morning before work and there was no polished aluminum there only relaly dull stuff. I'll hit the Home Depot tomorrow

[redpyro]

you might have to ask, tel them what you want it for they should be able to order it if they dont have it. use some tin snips to cut it to size and bend it. I ordered mine online (polished aluminum) and cut and bent myself. Unfortuanly its been so long i dont remember where i got my lights and stuff from. I ahve looked for the same company but cant find them

[bigfalcon36]

sweet, there are some places around the downtown dayton area that sell that stuff too. Maybe I can get them to order the stuff at home depot, theyre usually easier to work with. Thanks for the help

[Slicktrax]

sounds like someone made fishcubes for dinner, my wife loves it when i get the little food processor out to make food for the fish. the smell gags her right out of the way.

[bigfalcon36]

what's a good dosing rate for dosing calcium, I have a dosing pump here at work that they are getting rid of and I am taking it. I was wanting to know if it was too much or too little. When this thing is wide open it can pump 100 ml of water in 6 minutes. I know that's too much for the size of tank that I have, is there any set rule of thumb to use when dosing? Or should I just go with the try it and test it method...?

[redpyro]

well what do you have in your tank that needs calcium? probably not much

[bigfalcon36]

correct, nothing actually but I was just getting all the stuff together and I read that calcium helps coralline growth so I thought that I could hurt...i could be wrong I guess.

[redpyro]

wont hurt to get it up, but you will need to test until you figure out what you need to dose

[bigfalcon36]

ok sweet...never hurts to get it up once in a while ;) HA

[ohioreef]

Originally posted by redpyro
wont hurt to get it up, but you will need to test until you figure out what you need to dose


:eek1: :eek1: GASP!!!!! You said test!!! Maybe you should wash your mouth out with soap!!!!

[redpyro]

i know i have said it alot lately, luckaly not in my house

[Micki]

My My My Matt... Are we uncovering a new leaf??? :)

[redpyro]

maybe at someone elses house, but not at mine :)

[Micki]

I did all my testing this morning! Everythign was great except for that darn PO4! It was much better than the old tank but still at 1. The old tank was off the chart!

[bigfalcon36]

just did an ammonia test, its getting better. The little chart thing reads "0 .25 1 2" mine was at a ".25" not great, but better than it was! so I added some more Amquel Plus.

[Micki]

Originally posted by Slicktrax
sounds like someone made fishcubes for dinner, my wife loves it when i get the little food processor out to make food for the fish. the smell gags her right out of the way.

This is the first time I have made it with raw octopus, squid and cuttlefish. YUK! It takes a lot to make me gag, but this was close! I added a little garlic, cyclopeez, brine shrimp, formula one and more garlic. It wasn't so bad then! LOL

I'm glad it made a lot, I won't have to do that again for a while... :)

[ohioreef]

You might want to look into a PO4 reactor Micki if you continue to have problems.

You'd think you'd have HA with that high of a reading!! Mine usually reads 0 on my test and I still have HA!!!

[Micki]

Your HA is why your reads 0. It consumes all of it. How much do reactors cost?

[bigfalcon36]

Micki, you have a refuge?? you should try that if you dont...from what I have read those things work wonders on everything and the Macro and everything is so cheap to buy. That would be the easier way to go instead of shelling out $200-$400

[Micki]

Yep I have a fuge. 125 gal. tank. 40 gal. sump. 10 gal fuge. I won't jump into a reactor yet... I still have a few tricks up my sleeve... :)

Thanks for the suggestion though!

[bigfalcon36]

ha, must be nice to have tricks...the only trick i have is a bare a$$ tank and time to wait for more stuff to die off

[Micki]

P A T I E N C E!!! Find that and you have a gold mine!

[bigfalcon36]

I'm 23, that word doesnt exist...that's why I cant go fishing or hunting with my dad. But I can remember back to high school when I had cichlids. It took abotu 6 months for everything to come together and then everything took care of itself.

Which brings me to another point...why is it ok for my wife to spend $2500 on Broyhill bedroom furniture, but she rips my butt when I want to by a RO/DI from Walter at airwaterice.com? If someone can help me rationalize this, please feel free.

[Micki]

Because she is WOMAN!!! We rule ya know!

:hammer:

Beside you "both" get to enjoy bedroom furniture. She doesn't get to "enjoy" a RODI unit. :D

[ohioreef]

My PO4 reactor was around $50, but I bought it used with some RowaPhos media. I'm pretty sure new ones are less than $100.

[bigfalcon36]

In the words of Adam Sandler, "Give me Cancer now GOD!"

[Slicktrax]

the word rational is not cmpatable with the word wife, sorry falcon.

micki - is that the walmart frozed seafood variety pack you got?

[bigfalcon36]

the wife broke down this morning and is going to "let" me get the RO/DI. I am just trying to see if this is a test..like if I dont get it she'll be really happy...or if I do this will ammo for an argument 5 months down the road. Youd think I was a Psych major :D

[Micki]

Originally posted by Slicktrax
the word rational is not cmpatable with the word wife, sorry falcon.

micki - is that the walmart frozed seafood variety pack you got?

Now now Slick... I'm one of those ya know!

Yes it is Wal-Mart. They only had one so I got it. There was raw squid, octopus and cuttlefish (yummy) and cooked shrimp, muscle and imitation crab meat. I kept the shrimp and muscle for the fuge and ditched the crab.

I love crab meat but the thought of eating something that just touched the raw stuff turned my stomach :(

I then grinded that up and added garlic and anything else I had in the freezer. (brine shrimp, mysis, chocolate ice cream, Liquid Life, cyclopeez).

It didn't taste as bad as I thought either! :D

[bigfalcon36]

So I take it this was at a Supercenter, not just regular Walmart?

[Micki]

Correct, I go to the Sidney store but they are popping up all over now.

[Slicktrax]

it sounded familiar, i have a package of the same thing from the Troy walmart, but it is for me and not the tank

[Micki]

Raw squid, octopus and cuttle fish are for you??? UGH!!!!!

[Slicktrax]

not raw that would be nasty, fish stew or seafood marinara

[Micki]

Ohhhh, still doesn't sound good to me. Lobster, crab shrimp good. things with big legs and suction cups YUK!

[Slicktrax]

why not, tastes like chicken :)

[Micki]

I've heard that before. I'm sure it's just in my head, but it still makes my stomach feel the same. :lol:

[bigfalcon36]

Finally got my ammonia so it is untracable and my Nitrites are too. Things are starting to open up again all over the live rock :D I'm starting to get excited again!

[ohioreef]

Yup, looks like you had a mini cycle. Glad to hear that things are looking up for you!!!

[bigfalcon36]

About time man, the green stars are all open and swaying in the current. There are also a ton of mini feather dusters everywhere. I'm going to go to Jack's tomorrow to look at their Kole Tang....i think its like $35 and then go to Gerber's on Tuesday to see how much theirs is....Hey Carson how much are they there??