Help!

[rthompson14]

So yesterday my cleaner shrimp shed his exoskeleton....i removed it when i seen it. this morning....

I'm home now and my kenya is closed up and hunched over and my frogspawn is closing up as we speak.... somehow my ammonia went up....results are...

Salinity 1.025
8.8ph
.25 ppm ammonia
0 nitrite
5.0 nitrate

I havent done anything out of the usual recently, though 2 days ago i had it tested at the LFS and all they said was to add a capful of calcium to bring up that level...

is it possible that the shrimps exoskeleton added to my ammonia and nitrate levels?
Im doing a 20% change right this second, If you guys think I should do more let me know as I'm scooping out water as we speak.

 

[rthompson14]

Ok i vaccummed out 5 gallons and scooped out another 5......is this sufficient enough? my poor kenya tree looks like its dying....guessing from the small ammonia spike out of no where....think it came from the exoskeleton?

 

[saltfan]

Doubt it my cleaner shrimp shed about every other mo. with no ammonia spikes. look for something else that has died...

 

[rthompson14]

could it be a dead lps maybe and i just dont know its dead?

 

[reefer gladness]

Your pH is way off, hopefully that is a typo or erroneous test result. Should be in the 8.1 to 8.4 range normally and fluctuating about .2 every day from the beginning to end of light cycle. Are you dosing kalkwasser? That could have raised your pH to abnormal levels.

Using your LFS to double-check your test results is okay but you really should invest in some decent test kits. For water chemistry you need alkalinity, magnesium and calcium.

I agree with Saltfan, look for something else that died but chances are your bio-filtration system and CUC will handle it within 24 hours.

 

[rthompson14]

i just found parts of dead snail under one rock, removed what i seen, taking rock by rock and putting in refiguium so i can throughouly scout my display tank for any other dead snails

 

[rthompson14]

i just had my water tested 3 days ago at the lfs, and it was right on with all my tests...and only thing i added was a cap full of calcium cause my calcium was in mid 300's range.....my kit tests ph, nitrate, nitrite, calcium, and ammonia. i also have a refractometer and using a RO/DI filtratration from BRS to make my salt water....btw I ended up doing 25% water change just now, and making more water as we speak, wont go to sleep until I have another 10 gallons filtered and ready in my bucket incase something else happens

 

[rthompson14]

will an ammonia spike cause the ph to rise? or pieces of this dead snail?

 

[DaveK]

Ammonia usually will not cause a pH spike. Also, never trust a LFS testing. All too often they are careless.

In your specific case, I would get a different brand of test kit and try again. Sometimes the indicator solution goes bad or may be reacting with something else in the water or it's salt formulation. It will be worth testing your new batch of water to see where that is. Some salts mix to unexpected results.

 

[kyle4201]

the higher your pH is the more toxic you're ammonia will become .very little ammonia is devastating if your pH is higher. At least that's what I've read

 

[rthompson14]

going to test again once everything settles down. I moved all the rock and looked for any other dead snails, all i found was pieces of the one, oddly i couldnt find the shell and i looked in all the holes in the rock. do i have to go through this process every time a snail dies? it was so hard moving stuff around and not hurting any corals that were in there. i could see this very difficult to do in a well established tank with corals growing everywhere

 

[saltfan]

Im thinking faulty test kit...RO water is pretty neutral at 7 and your salt mix makes up the diff. for the most part without getting into all the things that can cause ph to rise and fall. Test the ph on your new mix and see what ya get if its 8.8 I would say definitely a bad test kit. I sure people with more experience will chime in.

 

[rthompson14]

tested the ph of my new mix and its 8.2 with a salinity of 1.026....just made this mix 30 minutes ago

 

[saltfan]

nice

 

[DianaKay]

You shouldn't need to be dosing anything this early in your tank's life if you are using a good reef salt mix to do your routine WC's with. Until you have lots of SPS coral in your tank, (IMO) you don't need to chase after higher calcium numbers.
Your ammonia level should not go up on the death of a single snail unless it was a HUGE one.
I hope your WC made a good difference in your situation. Part of having a new tank is it's instability with bio load changes. That's why adding fish & corals should be a very slow spaced out process. & then only hardier fish and corals for the 1st whole year. Your tank may just be having a late cycle spike. I don't think it's a good idea to stir up the sand bed at this time. Just the very top layer is all I ever stir & then not all of it at one WC.
Try to not panic...the WC you did should have provided some dilution. Re-test ammonia & nitrites daily until they zero out. Hope that is REAL SOON. There may be a nitrifying bacteria product that can be added if WC's don't bring down the ammonia. I've never used any but maybe someone can advise on one to safely add after you already have fish & corals in the tank.

 

[reefer gladness]

tested the ph of my new mix and its 8.2 with a salinity of 1.026....just made this mix 30 minutes ago

The plot thickens then. Now the question is why the water in your tank is testing at 8.8. Here's an article from RHF on high pH, curiously he comments any test result over 8.5 when not dosing kalkwasser is likely an error with the test kit.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/#6

I looked at your build thread. Was any of the recent rock you purchased artificial? Some LFS's sell a manufactured product that is painted purple to look like coralline. It shouldn't contain concrete but if it does... that could be your source of high pH. If you suspect this might be the case you can soak a piece of the rock in some freshly mixed water like you have now and monitor the pH.

 

[rthompson14]

I wonder if its the salt I'm using, its not a reef salt mix, just regular Instant Ocean.....would using a reef salt make a difference? And thanks Diana I won't add anymore calcium to the tank, you know how those LFS will sucker you into buying whatever they can

 

[DianaKay]

I use Instant Ocean Reef Crystals. You can change over when you run out of what you are using. I've had lots of good LPS growth and I've never added any calcium. Yep, the LFS sold me some but I was too afraid to use it.
I've been told that I won't need any until the calcium is being used by corals & LPS coral doesn't deplete it like SPS corals do. I get my instant ocean reef crystals in a HUGE BOX (makes 200 gal size) that has 4 sealed bags inside for keeping it fresh & making use easier. It's $53.99 and shipping is FREE.
Here's the link....I'd recommend the BOX. http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4685+4856&pcatid=4856

 

[rthompson14]

The plot thickens then. Now the question is why the water in your tank is testing at 8.8. Here's an article from RHF on high pH, curiously he comments any test result over 8.5 when not dosing kalkwasser is likely an error with the test kit.

http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-03/rhf/#6

I looked at your build thread. Was any of the recent rock you purchased artificial? Some LFS's sell a manufactured product that is painted purple to look like coralline. It shouldn't contain concrete but if it does... that could be your source of high pH. If you suspect this might be the case you can soak a piece of the rock in some freshly mixed water like you have now and monitor the pH.

Funny you mentioned that. About 30 lbs of the rock in my tank is the artificial manmade rock with the purple coraline on it. The rest was real rock with multiple coraline and sponges growing on it. Though the last time I added the artificial rock was a month ago. I was also told that it was already cured and been in the LFS for a few months.

I've been doing full tests every 3 days on my tank and 2 days prior to this spike I even brought in a water sample to the LFS to check for accuracy.

I only had time this morning before work to check Ph (8.2) and Ammonia (trace, not enough green to be .25ppm). I have 15 gallons mixed and at the ready incase something else arises. This could also maybe be some late cycle spike as my tank isn't as old as everyone would like to see it.

I'll post test results later after I nip that Aiptasia in its pie hole!

 

[reefer gladness]

You shouldn't need to be dosing anything this early in your tank's life if you are using a good reef salt mix to do your routine WC's with. Until you have lots of SPS coral in your tank, (IMO) you don't need to chase after higher calcium numbers.

I'm gonna have to disagree with this post. The right time to start dosing is when water changes alone aren't enough to keep water chemisty balanced.

OP said calcium was in mid-300's, whatever the reason (salt brand or lack of dosing), this is dangerously low in a reef tank. You don't need to maintain high calcium like an SPS tank but you can't ignore calcium just because you don't have SPS corals. LPS, snails, clams and certain algae's all consume calcium carbonate.

I wouldn't let calcium drop below 380ppm in a reef tank, mag should be kept at approx 3x your calcium (i.e. 400ppm calcium you want mag around 1200ppm). Use your own test kits and don't rely on the LFS to test this.