Could high ammonia be causing this much caos!!

[Joxer]

I switched over to a bigger sump last weekend. The 90 gal reef has been running for over a year with not one coral lost. During the switchover I was forced to run without a skimmer for a day and a half. When the skimmer was put back it took another day before it started producing. today I noticed all of my corals where off colour. The stonies where the worst. I checked all levels and the only one different from past test was the ammonia. Up to this point it has always read zero. Today it was up to .75pph. Is this level for 2 days causing the dieoff. Thank you, A VERY DEPRESED REEFER

[Stoli]

The ammo at that level is pretty bad for the corals. Make sure you do the test at least one more time with a different kit to confirm the results. Did the skimmer have anything in it during the changeover (ie, did you leave it filled with the tank water during that period)? If so, your ammo probably came from the stagnant water in the skimmer. Alternatively, when you changed your sump, you probably stirred up lots of detritus that tends to collect there. It probably began to break down much faster after being stirred up and as a result, it overwhelmed your bacterial population. Many people runner skimmerless tanks or run their skimmers intermittently so I doubt that was your main problem.

These are just guesses but seems likely.

[Joxer]

could that ammonia spike case such a rapid chage in the healt of the corals?

[Stoli]

I'm not sure but my understanding is that ammo is quite toxic to corals.

[yaksplat]

Did you empty the skimmer, or did you just have it sitting around full of water? I've noticed that ammonia can form pretty quick in a skimmer that isn't running.

Jim

[Joxer]

I believe i did emply it, but there could have been an inch or so in the bottom.

Could the spike be causing the corals problems.

[sailfinreef]

I believe the spike would cause some problems, I would do a few water changes through the next couple days