inverts raise ammonia?

[steve r]

can adding inverts to a new tank raise the ammonia a little. on sunday afternoon we added about a dozen hermits and about a dozen snails to our newley cycled tank and tonight the ammonia went up to .25 from zero. the nitrite and nitrate levels have stayed at zero. if it means anything the cycle seemed to be very "soft" and quick. after the peak of the cycle all levels went to zero for a week before we added the crabs and snails.

any input would be appreciated

thanks
steve r

 

[8965]

i added about the same amout and it had little impact on my tank....i'm still a newbie though.

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

that many snails can impact the ammonia a little you could probably smell it in the bad, but not enough to actually hurt anything, the tank will settle back to normal within a week. this is a good lesson as to why you want to add one fish at a time to a tank (with exceptions to small schoolers)

 

[malkore]

Grammar police!!
please don't misuse the word 'impact'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=impact

(sorry, I have a BA in English, and entirely too many people use 'impact' incorrectly)


(and yes, I scream at the tv and radio when they misuse the word too)

/rant

 

[steve r]

i guess i misunderstood adding. i thought you could add a group of inverts like that because they didnt waste as much. i did however understand not to add more than one fish at a time. i will wait a couple of weeks before adding anything else

thanks
steve r

 

[austinsdad]

Make sure they're all still alive. Any die-off might've created some ammonia too.

 

[steve r]

they are still all alive and very active. they dont seem uncomfortable. moving around and eating non stop. maybe something in my live rock died. i did fish out some of the remains of a missing emerald crab that came on the live rock. i guess he is not missing anymore

steve r

 

[Salttanker]

If you haven't done one yet, you can always do a water change to help decrease the ammonia as well.

Mike

 

[petitemonk]

Grammar police!!
please don't misuse the word 'impact'
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=impact

(sorry, I have a BA in English, and entirely too many people use 'impact' incorrectly)


(and yes, I scream at the tv and radio when they misuse the word too)

/rant

Isnt the word impact used as a metaphore in that context? 8)

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

so a BA in english makes you an expert in what form of English? standard, inner city vernacular, British, Aussie., southern dialects. I am curious because as a future linguist i believe language changes over time and since impact is noun that would make it open class meaning that it easily changes its parts of speech.

Josh

 

[xxmoorishmanxx]

please dont take my beliefs personally, i just have my own ideas about what the english language is and is not. I am very against a standardization of the language. Presrcriptive Grammarians and I usually do not get along 8)

 

[steve-s]

Now let's see what was the thread topic? Oh ya, inverts adding to the bioload

I would actually suggest the inverts themselves where not the cause but rather something else. If water was introduced from the LFS bag, that could have added something or possibley the test kit was not reading correctly unless it's still reading as such.

There is also the possiblility of ammonia appearing after the tank is suspected of cycling. It part of the tanks maturing process and small elevations in these numbers can and will happen. They are usually very short lived and often not noticed by hobbiest. You can never know what the rock contains and the possibility of a hitchiker up and dieing is more than possible at any stage which would contribute to the ammonia.

Personally I would call this coincidence but a few water changes should solve your problem for the time being.

Cheers
Steve

 

[steve r]

thanks for the info guys. i did do a 5 gallon water change. i will test tonight and possibly another water change. as of today all the new animals still all appear to be doing fine. my guess is that something died between my last two tests. i did find the remains of a emerald crab i had not seen since the previous test.

as always thanks everyone for the input

steve r