HUGE Ammonia Spike - Please help ASAP :(

oONightFireOo · #1 09/08/2004, 09:42 PM

Hello Everyone...
Hope everyone made it through the storm safely and that everyone is okay.

This past weekend I finally put in all 120 gallons of saltwater into my tank. I was also told that in order to begin the cycling stage, I would need to either put in a couple of damsels, or some live rock and that if I wanted to go with Live Rock (which I do - I am focusing on a reef setup for now) that I needed to put in a good deal so that it could all cure together. So I ordered 90 pounds of Cured Live Rock (Fiji) from Live Aquaria and got it in the mail today....

Before putting in the live rock my tank specs were:
PH: 8.2
Salinity 1.025 (34 ppt)
Temp: 80 degrees (f)
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Nitrite: 0 ppm
Ammonia: 0ppm

And then I put in the live rock this afternoon around 7pm. And then at 8pm checked the specs to see how much the tank had spiked in the 3 hours it had the live rock in it...

Now my tank specs are: (as of 10:15pm EST)
PH: 8.2
Salinity: 1.025 (34 ppt)
Temp: 70 degrees (f)
Nitrate: 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 10 ppm
Ammonia: 4 (yes FOUR) ppm

I just am scared that the ammonia jumped an ENORMOUS amount in such a short period of time. Is this normal or should I worry and try to do something to correct the issue? Any suggestions would be GREATLY apprecaited, because I would LOVE the Live Rock to actually cure rather then to die-off and be one EXPENSIVE pile of Base Rock...

Should I just wait things out or should I be concerned?
Thanks for all the help/advice!

Kevin

seashellshelly · #2 09/08/2004, 09:55 PM

I am not an expert by any means but I'll tell you my experience. I recently just starting cycling my tank with LR and I had a huge spike in ammonia just like you did. I figured it was part of the process and did not worry. Now, a few days later, I see the ammonia coming down and the nitrite/nitrate going up. My LR appears to have a lot of life on it regardless of the huge spike in ammonia. I would say not to worry as this is part of the cycling process.

Shelly

PS I did do a small water change two days after adding the LR to help with the ammonia.

bertoni · #3 09/08/2004, 10:07 PM

Sounds within reasonable expectations. You can do some water changes if you want to try to save more life on the rock, but it's a lot of work. Some people claim that the water changes will slow the cycle, but I don't believe it.

WaterKeeper · #4 09/08/2004, 10:21 PM

Not to worry; that is par for the course. It may stay that way for a week or two. As Jon said, some water changes will be in order. It helps to dilute the decomposition toxins currently forming in your tanks water.

If you haven't read it yet the New Tank Thread covers the cycle and other things about your new set-up.