Solinity and ammonia

[bloo1987]

Hi. So I recently bought a hydrometer and checked my solinity level and it was up to 1.031. So I lower it to 1.021-1.023. Once I lowered it my ammonia came up. Is this normal? And will it go back down?

The way I lowered my solinity was adding conditioned tap water using Prime.

55 gl. tank
est. 50lbs LR
est. 15 red-legged hermit crabs
2 emerald crabs
1 sponge crab
1 sailfin tang
mushroom coral

Coral life lighting
Seio power head
Jebo canister filter
Ramora protein skimmer


10 gl. hospital tank in the works

[fsn77]

There's a few possibilities as to why the ammonia went up. *How high is it?* The first is that the tap water contains some ammonia. The second is that it contains chloramine, which can be broken down by Prime, but might provide an ammonia reading until the ammonia part is broken down in the tank. A third centers around any deaths in your tank, depending on how quickly the salinity adjustment was -- changing it too fast can shock the system and cause some deaths.

Yes, the ammonia level should go back down. The bio-filtration in the tank will take care of it. You might want to skip a feeding or two until it does go down, just to be safe.

[bloo1987]

It seems like the ammonia went up between 0.25-0.50. But I conditioned the water with Prime before I added it in. How long is it until the ammonia goes away? Its not like the whole tank has to cycl over again right?

55 gl. tank
est. 50lbs LR
est. 15 red-legged hermit crabs
2 emerald crabs
1 sponge crab
1 sailfin tang
mushroom coral

Coral life lighting
Seio power head
Jebo canister filter
Ramora protein skimmer


10 gl. hospital tank in the works