Added Liverock-got Huge Ammonia Spike

[jloventh]

i HAVE A CYCLED REEF TANK. i RECENTLY ADDED A LIVE ROCK THAT I GOT IMMEDIATELY AS IT ARRIVED AT THE LFS. IT LOOKS GREAT IN MY TANK. WHEN I GOT HOME THERE WAS A HUGE AMMONIA SPIKE. AND MY NITRATES AND NITRITES WERE ALL OUT OF WHACK. EVERYTHING IN THE TANK LOOKED BAD. I QUICKLY PERFORMED A 30% WATER CHANGE. THE CORAL AND INVERTS RESPONDED IMMEDIATELY LOOKING BETTER. FISH STARTED MOVING AROUND MORE. I CHECKED MY LEVELS THIS MORNING...STILL LOTS OF AMMONIA AND NITRITES LOWER AND NITRATES ARE LOWER. MY AMMONIA IS 1.0. I DON'T THINK I NEED TO WORRY ABOUT NITRITES AND NITRATES AS I BELIEVE THE SYSTEM WILL GRADUALLY CONVERT THEM. I HAVE ADDED AN AMMONIA REMOVER...."PRIME" BUT IT JUST SEEMS TO ABSORB IT IN THE TANK. DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY ADVICE.
tHANKS,

jEFF.

I just looked up and realized I wrote this all with the cap lock on....sorry.:shake:

[mogurnda]

Keep up the water changes. Even "cured" live rock will have some die-off, and you're experiencing it now. Did you rinse the rock in seawater to get rid of any large, possibly dying objects before putting it into the tank? You might look for dead stuff and pull it off.

[jloventh]

I really appreciate your answers. You have always been helpful. Things like rinsing the rock are never brought up when you buy the rock....makes sense. Should I do anything besides water changes ? and at what point should I just let the system absorb the spike.

Right now I have
Ammonia .50 - 1.0
Nitrites 5
and Nitrates 80

PH and SG are normal...Fish and inverts are starting to revive.

[mogurnda]

Yikes, that's a lot of ammonia and nitrite! I don't think there's much to be done besides dilution to reduce the size of the spike. You might consider making a big batch of seawater, like in a rubbermaid tub, and keeping it aerated and heated so it's handy. Then just do daily 25% water changes until things work themselves out.

[oscarlvr]

also a note, i believe the live rock when received at the lfs is not cured, you should buy it from them after they had it a few weeks, maybe there is lots of dye off, i wish you luck with your tank

robert

[jloventh]

Do you think I should remove the rock from the tank ?? Although the water changes along with some "Kent's Ammonia Detox" have helped. If I do remove to rock what should I do with it to "cure it".

Ammonia levels have gone down but still at .50 nitrites at still at 5 but nitrates down to 40. Fish and inverts (coral and anenome) looking much better.

[M-pire]

To cure it everything that is dead has to be eaten away, and only the live stuff left. So if you remove it from the tank you would need to put it in another tank to cure...cant just take it out of the tank or everything would die and it wouldnt be live rock.

Just keep doing water changes and it will eventually cycle through. Consider Mogurnda's idea of keeping a tub full, if its an option.

[M-pire]

Originally posted by oscarlvr
also a note, i believe the live rock when received at the lfs is not cured, you should buy it from them after they had it a few weeks, maybe there is lots of dye off, i wish you luck with your tank

robert

I used to work at one of the lfs and the way we received LR was just in a styrofoam cooler w/ no water. The rock was moist so alot of the bacteria survived, but most everything else died off. This was cured LR we ordered...so it was cured when they had it, then we had to recure it.

I noticed you said you got it right as it came in, so this is probably what caused such a massive die off.