I have a little amonia - How much is too much

S

SALT

Premium Member
[I moved the contents of my 40 long tank over to a bare bottom 55 yesterday to hold the stuff until I get my 105 set up (everything except the sand). Well I tested for amonia this morning and it read 0.2. The lowest reading on a an Aquairum Systems SeaTest kit. I do have 50 gallons of mixed up to temp water ready just incase of emergency but is a reading like this high enough to do a complete change or should I wait and see if stays the same, goes up or goes down?

Everything looks OK. Fish are swiming corals are out but not fully.

This is the first time I have done a tank move so I am a bit unknowing.]
 
[Any is bad, 0.2 after a move and huge stirring up of detritus probably isn't to bad. If it doesnt go away in a day or 2 and return to 0 I would do a water change. Watch for Nitrites too. If the fish start to look stressed, or start breathing heavier then normal, or hanging near the surface, do a water change.]
 
[I'd dose Seachem's Prime in your tank now, to lock up the ammonia. Are you running a skimmer on it?]
 
[I did run the full set of nitrogen tests and checked pH and Alk.

Amonia 0.2
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 8.2
Alk 3.0 meq/l
Specific Grav 1.026/refractometer

The lights have been on for about 3 hours now and every thing looks good except my toad stool. As a matter of fact the hammer and frogspawn are open more than I have seen them in a long time. So I do not know. I did have a few nitrates in the old set up and the water in the temp tank is 70% new mix, 1/2 Oceanic, 1/2 IO. I guess I will keep an eye on it and see what happens.]
 
[OK, Just dosed the SecChem Prime.

Yes, I am running a Remora. It does not seem to be pulling and ton of stuff, just a little more than usual, but I guess I expected that.

Do you know if the SeaChem Prime will affect later Amoina test and give false readings?]
 
[Well I just checked the amonia again and although it is not as green as it was this morning it is definitley not the yellow color that indicates zero amonia. Every thing looks OK, fish swimming and grazing, corals open. I hope everything will be alright over night. I guess I will check it in the morning.

Marc, do you think I should give it another dose of SeaChem Prime?

Thanks for the input. Man I will be glad when this move is over and things settle down/are stablized.]
 
[No, you shouldn't have to redose, but you might start making water change water so you have it on hand if things get out of line.

I don't know if it will affect the test results or not. It might.]
 
[I already have 55 gallons mixed and up to temp with another 30 gallons of fresh R/O in another barrel. I sure hope this works out though, but I guess it is all just part of a move.

Thanks for the reply Marc

Stanley T'''

PS The baffels are in and drying. If all goes well I can put the sump in the stand tomorrow evening and finalize the plumbing/glue the last couple of PVC pieces. After that all I have to do is run the tubing for the auto top off from the garage and I should be able to set up the new tank on Friday. WHOOOHOOO :beer:]
 
[Well I checked it again this morning and it is still at the 0.2 level. Things still look OK. I guess I will just wait it out. Does anyone think that I could be hurting my tank inhabitants?. Should I just go ahead an do large water change? If I do who is to say that the amonia just will not build up again. I was thinking of maybe seeing if the fellow reefers in my area could keep a few of my corals until this blows over. Is that a good idea?]
 
[Stanley I would keep dosing to keep it as low as you can. I would also do water changes every few days until it is over.

It is just minicycling because of the switch I would guess. You need to keep the ammonia as low as possible though even though everything looks OK now.

I wouldn't worry about moving the livestock again. You should be OK if you stay on top of it!]
 
[Hey Keith,

Thanks for the reply. I am going nuts with worry. I would hate to lose anything over the move. I know it happens and I just need to do the best I can. I think I am going to go ahead and do a 50% water change this evenig. I do have the water made up so I guess better safe than sorry.]
 
[Sounds good to me. And when you've got it switched over, you can update your signature line again. :)]
 
[Well I changed about 30 gallons last night. I ran a test this morning and the amonia is all gone. I did test it before the change and it was actually pretty low but I decide to go ahead and do the change anyway. I hope that is the end of the that, but I will check it again this evening.]
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top