Just got LR from liverocks.com...seeing large ammonia spike

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jvennitti

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Jan 20, 2004
Messages
46
Location
Virginia
I received my LR from liverocks.com on Wednesday and used bearfan's instructions for carbonated water dip. Ammonia last night was around 4.0 and nitrite around .25. I am mostly concerned because I have two damsels in there now that had just been through the cycling period, though I know better now. I had asked about adding the LR because of this concern and received support. So, I just want to do the best thing for the tank to help ease the stress. Should I just plan to do frequent water changes and monitor closely? Or should I do something else.

BTW, the LR is beautiful and I am finding things still. I think I got a couple sea serpents and possibly a cucumber. I posted some pictures for id, as well as a tank shot, in the Identification forum.

Thanks for the advice,

Jeff
 
Yes you should prepair a fairly sizable water change. Also take a look closely at the rock for obvious dead/decaying items. If you find them then remove them from the rock with a stiff brissle nylon brush.

This will help lower the source of the ammonia.
 
Stay after your water changes. Mine is begining to fall off. I kept my water changed so that it never got above 2 but now it seems to be below 1 where if was at 1 this morning. :lol:
 
bearfan's instructions for carbonated water dip

i would never do this !!! yea it works to get mantis shrimp out but your also killing/stressing out alot of critters that ya spent all the money on the rock for !! not a good idea imo !! if your worried qt the rock and drop in a raw shrimp and watch for these critters ya dont want then remove them !!
i just got my 45 lbs and when pulling the rock out there was two mantis shrimp swimming around the bottom of the bag !! well im keeping these guys in a smaller tank cause they are to cool imo and something that should be admired for what they are !! but carbon water is more harmful than good !!!
 
I got my rock on Tuesday from Liverock.com as well. Still only see a .5 ammonia reading. I did no carbonated dip. I put the rock straight in. Could the dip cause more dy-off causing higher ammonia?
 
imo yes doing a dip like that will kill more than it does good chasing out a poor mantis shrimp
 
yes doing a dip like that will kill more than it does good chasing out a poor mantis shrimp
Click to expand...


Where were you when I was getting set up to do my dip? :( I started not to do it but I did.
 
sorry and not sure where the carbon dip started but when i read it just didnt make any sense to me !! would be like dipping your kid in gas to get rid of lice :) heheheh had a hard enough time just dropping the rock in the water to be honest with you !! was gonna slowly drip water into the box it came in slowly to save as much life as possible ya know !! but after i scooped the mantis up with the net i was like hummmmm lets see how tuff these guys are so i just dropped them in and low and behold no shock death !! eating after the 2nd day and making his new hole bigger amazing how much they can dig into a rock :)
 
always go with ya gutt feeling most the time its right i hope or at least mabe half the time hehehe
 
Sorry Steve,

I just gotta disagree with you on this one. LR should be in QT before going into an established tank just like anything else. The carbonated dip that bearfan suggested was using a solution of carbonated water at the same ph and sg as the display tank. It forces critters like mantis shrimp, crabs, and other unwanted pests out of the rock and into the bottom of the pail. You can quickly sort through there and put any wanted items back. It's a method of preserving as much life as possible without introducing pests into a display tank.

Checkout this post on cirolanids for instance. Not something I want to introduce to my display tank.
 
I'm just a newbie, obviously, but IIRC Zack from liverocks.com supported the carbonated dip in one of the threads. In any event, I have been doing 15% or so water changes daily and the ammonia is still around 4.0. The ph is around 7.8 and I've desperately trying to increase that as well with baking soda. This morning I lost one of the damsels that I regrettably put through one cycle already. The other one is looking poor. I'm afraid that I'll begin to lose much of the life that I paid for. :cry:

Any other suggestions?

Thanks for the advice,

Jeff
 
The ph is around 7.8 and I've desperately trying to increase that as well with baking soda.
Click to expand...

This I don't understand :?

I have been doing 15% or so water changes daily and the ammonia is still around 4.0
Click to expand...

Keep up with the water changes, and increase it to 25%. Also if possible get those fish in a QT tank. The poor little buggers should not have to got through that.

I stayed after my water changes, got mine tuesday, 46 gal tank, did 10 gal wed, 10 gal thurs, 15 gal fri. nothing sat or sun (ammonia was just under 1). This morning ammonia is .25 :mrgreen: .

Also check your rock, I did have 2 or 3 things die off that were just nasty smelling and had to have helped with my ammonia.

HTH
 
Juvennitti,

My PH when I first put my LR in my tank was at 7.8 also. My ammonia spiked to about 1 after a few days. After a week the PH was back to 8.2 and the ammonia 0. I posted a thread about my Ph and was told it is natural for the PH to be low until everything gets going and thats what happened with mine.
 
After my experience w/ this rock, which I got 140lbs around the Thanksgiving weekend, I would highly suggest some sort of dip. I didnt, and I'm hunting my eighth mantis as we speak :x
 
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