Filling Up My Tank

[carey]

Nope. It will be fine without adding anything. Purple up is after all just calcium and your salt mix has calcium so nothing to add.

 

[teklabs]

What should be my next steps? Should I get sand in the tank and then add coral?

 

[Bill0181]

I would add sand before corals if you planning on having sand

 

[Rmckoy]

What should be my next steps? Should I get sand in the tank and then add coral?

I would let your system mature a little before adding corals .
Some corals can't handle swings in salt or parameters .

 

[teklabs]

So one of my green Chromis died today. I did a test on my water to see if there was a spike which caused it to die. Nitrates were still between 0-5ppm, nitrites were at 0ppm and ammonia was the only thing off between 0-0.25 ppm. I couldn't tell if the ammonia was up because of the dead fish in the tank or what. I have two other green Chromis in the tank.

 

[teklabs]

Diatoms seem to be increasing, they have been around about a week now.

 

[teklabs]

How do you reduce ammonia ? Nitrates and nitrites are at 0ppm.

 

[Grizz]

Water change is the simplest way The question is where is the ammonia coming from?

 

[Rmckoy]

How do you reduce ammonia ? Nitrates and nitrites are at 0ppm.

Ammonia should be 0 and stay there if the tank is properly cycled ,
Even after adding a ammonia source it should get transformed into nitrites then nitrates within 24hrs
I feed my anemone 1 whole shrimp 2 times a week and my ammonia even then is always
0ppm

 

[teklabs]

I had a Chromis die a few days ago. Could this cause a spike? I can't find the dead fish.

 

[Rmckoy]

I had a Chromis die a few days ago. Could this cause a spike? I can't find the dead fish.

It could , every system is different .
But depending on the size of tank and fish

 

[teklabs]

So my ammonia is still between 0-0.25ppm. I'll be doing a water change tomorrow.

 

[Rmckoy]

So my ammonia is still between 0-0.25ppm. I'll be doing a water change tomorrow.

There is something not right with either your system or tests .
There shouldn't be any traces of ammonia at all

 

[huma-huma]

There is something not right with either your system or tests .
There shouldn't be any traces of ammonia at all

Theres a dead fish still hidden somewhere in the tank. To the OP, id say youre best bet is to find the dead fish first, if not itll continue to give you problems until its completely decomposed

 

[Rmckoy]

Theres a dead fish still hidden somewhere in the tank. To the OP, id say youre best bet is to find the dead fish first, if not itll continue to give you problems until its completely decomposed

It's only a small fish , shouldn't there be enough BB to convert the ammonia ?
I know I can leave a raw shrimp in mine and not even notice a difference

 

[huma-huma]

Every setups different. I still wouldnt waste my time with water changes until i found that dead fish, but thats just me

 

[Rmckoy]

Every setups different. I still wouldnt waste my time with water changes until i found that dead fish, but thats just me

Being only a small fish you would probably never find it .
Some very good scavengers ( bristle worms ) make something that small disappear fairly fast .
I've lost 2 sand sifting gobies at different times along with a few shrimp and they are never to be seen again .
Still no noticeable changes with ammonia .
Like you said though every system is different .

 

[teklabs]

Diatoms are pretty much gone. Ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates are 0ppm.

 

[baconfingers]

do you think the water changes are what fixed your ammonia problem?

what's up next for the tank?

 

[teklabs]

I took a sample of my water to LFS for testing and they used test strips instead of liquid test. I guess my test was off or hard to read. Next I am going to add sand and then let the tank stabilize. Then I will add a pair of clowns.