Thought my tank was cycled ( Help )

[kskvarci]

So, I'm sure you guys have heard this one before. I bought about 55 lbs of "cured" live rock from CRA and added it to a new tank about 4 weeks ago. I saw a very minor increase in ammonia ( .25 ) which went back down to 0. Never anything very measurable with nitrites or nitrates.

Thinking that I had just had a minor cycle, This past weekend i added a percula and a small colony of yellow polyps. This was going to be it in terms of livestock for at least another month.

2 days later my ammonia is reading .5, perhaps a bit over, and my percula and polyps look a bit unhappy. At this point, Im not sure what to do. Should i just watch the levels and hope this is a small spike from adding the livestock?

Perhaps I should pull the polyps and percula out to a rubbermaid with fresh aerated saltwater while I watch whats going on in the main tank?

Short of that, maybe one of you wants to come rescue my two inhabitants in Franklin... :(

[Scuba_Dave]

I would do a water change & monitor levels, i fthey persist, continue w/water changes
How big is the tank? Other parameters? Ph, salinity..etc
ah 65g in your sig...

[tstone]

Scuba is right. Do water changes and monitor. I think as long as you do the changes your livestock will be OK.

[kskvarci]

How often and how much. Its a 65 with a 15 gallon sump, so water capacity is around 75.

I just did a 14 gallon change two days ago. I'll do a ten or so tonight when I get home. Hopefully everything will be alive when i get home..

What amount of ammonia would be grounds for pulling the living beings out of the water immediately? I really dont want to kill anything if I can help it!

My concern is that the tank may have never cycled at all, and that the added bioload finally triggered the real process.

Salinity is at about 1.021.

Thanks!

[tstone]

Test your water tonight when you get home. If Ammonia is on the rise then i would remove them.
If it is the same or less then I would just do a water change.
Change at least 10%, 20% would be even better. (14G)

Make sure you have plenty of oxygen exchange in the system. A lot of surface turmoil in the sump and surface skim the main tank.

[peacock79]

what are you testing salinity with ?

[kskvarci]

Originally posted by peacock79
what are you testing salinity with ?

A refractometer.. and a beam type.. why do you ask?

If I do need to pull them out, will they be Ok in an 18 gallon rubbermaid with a heater and some water circulation for a few days? How fast will ammonia become a problem in that environment?

I have a Magnum HOT. Could that be of any use in this situation?

[Auberon]

On a side note, I'd increase that salinity.

1.021 is a little low IMO

Mine's at 1.023-4. Many keep higher.

I agree with the water changes.

[JeremyR]

FWIW, you might want to check the yellow polyp rock.. it might have some dying sponge on it.. that can be pretty common with freshly imported polyp rocks.

[kskvarci]

When I got home I was pleasantly surprised to see that the ammonia levels have dropped. The current reading is somewhere between 0 and .25. I took nitrite readings, but the test kit I have ( Red Sea ) is pretty difficult to read. It looks like a 0 to me. Nitrates are at 0 as well.

So what’s your opinion on what happened here? I’m always trying to learn. I was a bit freaked out as that’s the first really measurable jump in results that I've seen. The cycle with this rock has minimal to non-existent which has proven to be a bit confusing…

I'm going to go ahead and do the water change tonight. I was planning on raising the salinity, but was unsure on how to go about it. E.G. how quickly I can raise it. The water I change in tonight will be of a higher salinity. I have some snails that have been in the tank since the start. I read that they are very sensitive to salinity changes.

Thanks for taking the time to help guys. You're guaranteed to hear from me again!

Oh, here are some pics if you're interested. I'll be keeping a log of my progress.

http://www.skvarcius.com/gallery/marine65

[tstone]

Go slow when raising the salinity. Maybe one point a day. I run my tanks at 1.025. It should take you 3 or 4 days to get there from 1.021.

Jeremy is probably right that there was a sponge or something on the polyp rock that died and caused the ammonia spike.
I got my first rock from him and I do believe him when he says its cured.

Do your water change tonight and go slow with the salinity. Your clown fish won't take a fast jump in salinity.

After your tank has matured, after maybe 6 months or more, you will not see a spike if something small dies.

[JeremyR]

FWIW, the reason there was minimal (no) cycle, is because the rock was pretty well cured.. we had probably had it at least 4 weeks, possibly 6 or more. If you had waited a day to test, you probably would not have even known you had this little speedbump.

[cman]

kskvarci,

If you have to house the clowns and polyps I live in Blackstone and can help you.

Sounds like you have the situation under control but if you need help let me know.

Carl