year old tank with problems

[fast94tracer]

well i normally have my lfs test my water so i only test for ammonia and nitrite at home and nitrite is undetectable and my ammonia is thu the roof its higher than my tester reads so its prolly about 1.1-1.2

what can i do other than water changes to lower my ammonia

 

[mike3epanda]

I'd say PWC is best but other is getting Amquel or other ammonia removing chemicals.... but from what i've heard it doesn't really remove ammonia but it just turns it into a non toxic form. HTH

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

For a short term solution, water changes are your safest bet. Assuming you match the temp/ph/salinity of your tank with the new water (which should be aerated for 24 hrs first), you can do some major water changes if you need to - upwards of 25% or so.

As previously mentioned, chemical means are out there. Amquel or Prime are a couple examples. But I *think* you'll still read ammonia on a test kit, even if it has neutralized it. At least that's how API "AmmoLock" works.

There's also Purigen. It won't remove the ammonia, but it will remove a lot of what's causing the ammonia in the first place.

Which brings us to the long term solution - figuring out why you have an ammonia spike. Just add a bunch new fish? Did something die? Someone dump a bunch of fish food in your tank without you knowing?

 

[fast94tracer]

i dont know whats going on it happened as soon as i removed the top of my tank to cool it with a fan cause i was having the water reach almost 90 degrees and now im down to 72 and i tested the ammonia yesterday and today and it was dark green

i know that there is always a worst case senerio and that is that i have cats with an open tank my lfs told me i need to be careful of this because they can pee in the tank and create a extreme ammonia spike i hope this is not happening

and for my live stock
i have 1 engineer goby, 2 four stipe damsels, one yellow tail damsel, and three domino damsels, 1 sand sifting starfish, and some snails and dwarf hermit crabs and all this is in a 55 gallon tank

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

So yesterday it was zero, and today it was that high? How often do you normally test for ammonia?

Are all your fish accounted for? Are you sure you didn't lose one with the sudden temperature shift and it's wedged somewhere rotting away? (Then again, with all those damsels, I'm sure you'd notice if one was missing!)

 

[fast94tracer]

everything is accounted for and no it was dark green both daysant the day befor that is was about 0.4

 

[melosu58]

Give your LFS a water sample to verify your results. You might have a bad test or made a mistake. How much LR is in your 55?

 

[fast94tracer]

i have 65 lbs

 

[Ziggy953]

I agree with Mike! I would verify those numbers. Why did your tank get to 90?

 

[fast94tracer]

because i have poor ac in my house and the fact that i live in the middle of the desert and its been 100+ outside and only gets down to 80 at night

 

[Ziggy953]

Well that is a good reason for the tank to get hot. I would suggest reducing the number of hours that your lights are on or adjust your timers so they are on either earlier or later in the day. What kind of lighting do you have? How close to the surface are the lights? Do you have good circulation in the tank? Are your heaters still on? If you have a sump for the tank putting a small fan where it can blow on the sump will help cool the tank.

 

[Hara]

I would suspect dead inverts such as snails.. A dead snail can turn a tank toxic faster then just about anything. They are also temperature sensitive.

 

[Ziggy953]

That's a very good point! Inverts don't like those high temps.

 

[fast94tracer]

well all my old snails are gone but they are empty shells i have new snails and they are doing fine
i use pc lighting 4x55 and they are about 4 inches off the water

to cool the tank about a week ago i took the tops off of the tank and put a fan over the tank to blow on the surface and now i stay consistantly about 72-75 and it has also lowered the temp in my house

i have also been doing water changes but i have no source for ro water so i have to use tap water with a declorinator product

 

[Ziggy953]

When you say tops do you mean glass tops that cover the surface? If so they are not a good idea when you have a SW tank. You really need good O2 exchange and to get it you need air getting to the surface.

 

[Kurt_Nelson]

i have also been doing water changes but i have no source for ro water so i have to use tap water with a declorinator product

Hmm. Back to your original question... have you tested your source water for ammonia? What are you using for a dechlorinator?

 

[Ziggy953]

Good point!

 

[fast94tracer]

what is it hmmmm i think aqua safe??
also
what are these on the glass are they snail eggs?

 

[BillyZ]

Those are quite likely snail eggs.

I will also second Kurts comment. Check your source water for ammonia as well. Is your tap water from a well or public water system?

 

[fast94tracer]

public water system