Ammonia rise

[Willba200]

Hi I have just finished my cycle , so I went and got two clowns. I fed them yesterday and done a test today. My ammonia levels have risen to 0.25 is this normal if all food was not consumed?

 

[Bectan01]

How big is the tank? How long and how did you cycle the tank?

 

[AquaRick]

There should be no ammonia in a cycled tank. Unless you drastically overfed, which I would assume not.

 

[Willba200]

Cycled tank for 4 weeks. Ammonia went to 0 and nitrate went up to about 40ppm. Added fish couple days later and . Fed yesterday and tested today . Only used a quarter of a cube but it think that May have been to much. Am now worried my live rock can not handle it! 149l tank with 50lbs live rock and live sand , two ph and a hob protein skimmer! Any ideas?

 

[Jschier]

You can use Amquel or Prime by seachem to reduce the ammonia, you'll have to keep testing and treating. Checkout the instructions on the bottles. A quarter cube would be too much. They have very small stomachs, feed only a couple pieces at a time, stop feeding when food is left to fall to the sand. Good luck.

 

[Jschier]

You can use Amquel or Prime by seachem to reduce the ammonia, you'll have to keep testing and treating. Checkout the instructions on the bottles. A quarter cube would be too much. They have very small stomachs, feed only a couple pieces at a time, stop feeding when food is left to fall to the sand. Good luck.

Also use water changes to get it down.

 

[Willba200]

So am I worrying for nothing? Let's say I did not test water for a couple of days would the ammonia have gone and turned to nitrate. And ammonia turned to 0

 

[Willba200]

Also is the reason for the spike to much feeding?

 

[Willba200]

By the way I did a 25% change and ammonia was 0.

 

[Jschier]

Good for the WC, not sure what caused the spike as there are many possibilities. Your test kit could be picking up NH4 which is slightly less harmful than NH3 but regardless continue the WC and amquel/prime until it's zero again. With that amount of Live rock you should be fine in the future.