Ammonia

Question
Hello my name is Brandy and i am have trouble with the ammonia in my aquarium. I have a 40 gallon that has been set up for for almost 1 month. my GH-180 KH-240 PH-8.0
CAL-520 both the NO2 & NO3 are zero. but the ammonia is lime green...  I have 3 fish, 1 goby, 3 shrimp, and multiple corals...any suggestions?

Answer
Hello Brandy,

On a new tank, you really shouldnt have corals.

And in a one month old tank, you really shouldnt have too many fish...

The process of 'cycling' or establishing a tank, is the time frame that it takes to build up the 'biological' filter.  That is the natural filter from the live rock and live sand.

This biological filter is what digests/processes ammonia into nitrates.

You may have ammonia cause you dont have sufficient number of biological organisms to handle the amount of wasted being generated by your fish and feeding routines.



Corals require very stable environements.  this includes the time when you are needing a 'water change' and during the water change and after...

Having corals during the first month or two or three, pretty much means you dont have a stable environment as you havent practiced and developed your routine.  the routine should be almost second nature, and without worries and 'second guessing' of, Am i doing it right???

Sorry to be so negative, but i believe you may have 'jumped the gun' a bit here.


to fix what you got...

dont add any more corals or fish for a while...

Start doing good sized water changes.  Maybe every other day of 10% for a week.

then slwoing down to every three or four days, for a couple weeks then once a week, then bi weekly...


this will allwo yo uto practice testing and water changes


You should test for the following BEFORE and after the water change.  (after means two hours after)

pH/AMMONIA/NITRATE/Salinity

That is it.  no need to test for kH, (not gH)  gH is for fresh water


anyways, please let me know how things work out for you...

You can contact me at my new forum at www.thelittleocean.com

It has a live chat so you can chat/talk with me and anyone else.

You can start a blog so you can keep track of what you do (right and wrong) and get feed back from other users.

The forum also has games and other fun stuff.  so, please check it out

thanks


Bill