high nitrate and ammonia
 

i am currently having a problem with nitrate and ammonia in my 40 gal reef. i did a 5 gal water change 2 days ago, and after then my ammonia went up to around .10 ppm. i knew something was wrong because my mushrooms started shirveling up very tiny. my nitrates are staying around 10ppm. i run two canister filters and i think thats the problem. i have prob 30-40 lbs of live rock. should i just take all the bio media out of the canisters and just use them for water flow? would my live rock be enough to do the bio filtering.? HELP ME PLEASE

are you running a protien skimmer? if not I'd ditch the canisters and invest in a good skimmer, the live rock will also help filter stuff out as well

how long has the tank been up and running ?? sounds kinda like a cycle.

I use a canister to run phosphate media in (I had it laying around). Take all the media out of them. I think you should only use carbon and phosphate removal in them, and change those frequently. The sponges in canisters are nitrate factories, take those out or clean them very well every few days. If you've got ammonia, then it definitely sounds like a cycle, wait it out, the above suggestions re: the canisters will avoid any future nitrate problems. A skimmer is always a good idea, and you can definitely use the canisters just for flow, just make sure the floss/sponge whatever is gone, along with everything else.

I do run a skimmer. it fills the cup to the rim bout every 2-3 weeks. the tank has been set up for 3 yrs now and has never had a problem like this. so, should i remove all the bio media? i do not have a sump right now so i would just be relying on my live rock but i think my skimmer is efficient enough.

I would take the media out, and either clean the prefilter sponges or floss really well, get new ones, or get rid of them. Rock is awesome.

Do lots of water changes...and run some Chemi-pure (Elite)

Removing the media all at once might lead to problems. I'd probably remove the media slowly or leave the tank alone. I don't think the canisters caused the ammonia spike.

Are you missing any livestock? An ammonia spike can be caused by decomposing creatures.

If the tank has been established for three years, then I think the only possibilities of detectable ammonia are:

Clogged flow somewhere or reduced flow around mature live rock.

something died

absolutely not enough filter medium for possibly added bioload (just growth)

medication that killed nitrification bacteria

what else?

Are you sure Ammonia reading is correct?

Any nitrite?

no nitrite. nothing has died, but i did have my marroon clown get beat up very bad and i switched him to my qtine tank and he died in there. i have a very mean damsel that has been in there from day one when it was cylcled. the ammonia did this once before when in had nitrates that elevated to 10ppm. i went and bought some seachem matrix, removed some bio media, and then added the matrix. within two weeks, ammonia was at 0, nitrate was at 0, and my nitrite was at 0. two weeks after that, its back to where i started.

hey wildernesstank! you sent me a pm but how can i pm u back? what is that? i haven't ever heard of it!