amonia and nitrate on 3mo old tank

[fourstate]

i have had my tank for 3 mo., 92 gal tank 3 in. live sand 65 lbs lr., sump with protein skimmer and bio balls. i have 2 stars numerous crabs, snails, cleaner shrimp,mushroom corals 2 anenomes. everything is doing fine but my fish got a disease so i pulled them out and put them in a quartine tank 2 weeks ago. i have coraline algae growing on the rocks, my question is about my amonia, nitrate levels, i cant get them to 0 my ammonia stays at 25ppm and nitrate 20 ppm nitrite 0 , ph 8.3 i dont have a akaline tester. what could be the causes of this with no fish.

 

[scuba_steve]

ya bio balls trap all wasted food !! slowly pull them out 1/4 at a time to be safe and keep testing !! also get a alk test kit!!

 

[steve-s]

You may also wish to have the ammonia test reading verified. It could easily be off and be sure you are testing for free ammonia (NH3) not total ammonia (NH4).

Cheers
Steve

 

[fourstate]

what is the difference, and should you test for both

 

[scuba_steve]

free ammonia is more of the acual waste from fish and the total ammonia is the process of it breakin down if i not mistaken

 

[steve-s]

Total ammonia (NH4) has no affect on the tank at higher ph values and is therfore not important in a SW tank... No need to test for it.

Cheers
Steve