Ahh! I always hated Chem.
 

Hey everyone,

So I went outta town for a couple weeks and left my roommates in charge of my tank. I just came back and all my parameters are messed up! I'm new to this hobby and don't know what my best options would be, hopefully you guys can help me get this under control and give me some suggestions, h2o change? chems? new fluval media? etc

My parameters:
Spec. Grav. - 1.026
Ammonia - 0.25ppm
Nitrate - 50ppm
Nitrite - 0.2ppm
pH - 8.0
Alk - 3.0
Phosphate - 0.05ppm
Calcium - 550

My tank:
Its a 33 gallon, I do 7gl water changes bi-weekly. Feed once daily. Have a Fluval 205, CPR BakPak, Korali powerhead.

Please someone help me out I wanna get this all perfect. Thanks!

How old is your tank? Did your roommates add anything other than food? What inhabitants do you have?

[B]Ahh! I always hated Chem. [/B]

That's OK. We won't hold it against you. :D

The ammonia is high. Have you had elevated ammonia before?

If the calcium is real, and not a testing error, let it drop on its own wile you only supplement alkalinity as needed using something like baking soda. Do you know how it got where it is? What salt mix do you use?

The nutrients are also worth dealing with, by increasing export somehow. :)

These may help:

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 1: The Salt Water Itself
[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-03/rhf/index.php[/url]

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 2: What Chemicals Must be Supplemented
[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-04/rhf/index.php[/url]

The "How To" Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners, Part 3: pH
[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-05/rhf/index.php[/url]

The “How To” Guide to Reef Aquarium Chemistry for Beginners,
Part 4: What Chemicals May Detrimentally Accumulate
[url]http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-09/rhf/index.php[/url]

bdare --> Tanks been running for 4 months now, They said they fed them once a day like I asked, alternating between brine and mysis shrimp. I've got 2 false perculas, 1 yellowheaded sleeper goby, 5 nassarius snails, 1 sand-sifting sea star, 1 emerald crab, and 5 other snails...tons of algae...

Thanks for the prompt replies

I've always had an ammonia problem as well, can never seem to get it to drop below 0.25...

Sounds like the tank has already been cycled then. If I had to guess they prolly overfed the tank while you were gone and now the tank is having another mini-cycle.

I would be concearned about the Amonia and Nitrite. To get it down I would problably do 25-30% water changes every day for a few days to get those levels down. Your bio filter will help bring them down as well, but both of those can be very toxic for your animals.

[QUOTE][i]<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=11576837#post11576837 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SDreefer23 [/i]
[B]I've always had an ammonia problem as well, can never seem to get it to drop below 0.25... [/B][/QUOTE]

Do you have another filter you are using other than the live rock? My only guess is that you do and when you do water changes you are completely replaceing / washing the filter media creating a gap in your biological filtration. If not... I'm kind of at a loss. Ammonia should be taken care of after your cycle unless you are overfeeding or something died.

bdare----> I'm only using my fluval 205 and live rock as filtration. I change the reef carbon every 3 weeks, leave in the bio max, and I've added ammonia remover and phosphate a few times but take it out. Should I add pre-filter or change sponges? I don't wash them I know its gotta build up the essential bacteria.

I'm using di-water for water changes and adding salt mix. I usually have to add a pH buffer to my tank to raise it back up to 8.0-8.2, is that normal?

I know you said your concerned about my ammonia and nitrites, are my nitrates a issue at 50ppm?

The nitrate shouldn't harm any of the animals listed so far.

Adding a pH buffer to control pH tends to cause problems, since they are just high-pH alkalinity supplements. I'd avoid dosing them except as the need is indicated by an alkalinity test kit.

The ammonia could harm a lot of animals. Some Amquel or Prime might be useful, along with water changes, although I'd also get a second opinion on the kit. Has it measured zero recently? Such kits can go bad and show a touch of ammonia at all times, in my experience.

The kits I use seem pretty accurate, red sea's master lab kit, and reef lab kit both use the dropper method w/ like 8 different test tubes which I rinse throughly. I've heard mixed reviews on using amquel and prime in reef aquariums, so you've had positive results with those?
Probably just due large water changes for the next few days and hope its get back to normal.
But how should I raise the pH after the water changes, I use the de-ionized water from a local fish store and make a salt mix but the water is default of 7.0 b/c its D.I. water...

The salt product itself, along with aeration, should set the pH. If not, the problem likely is high CO₂.

I didn't have much luck with my Red Sea test kits, but yours might be fine.

The only issues with Amquel are that it will confuse many ammonia test kits, and you'll need to keep dosing as long as the kit shows ammonia. The Red Sea will show ammonia even if the Amquel has bound it.