breebauer
Reefing newb
3 weeks ago I finally set up my 10gal hex again with:
Fluval canister filter
live sand
12 lbs of live rock
2 hermit crabs (introduced 1 week ago)
Everything was going as it should; my amonia was starting to spike as expected, and then SOMEBODY (not me, my bf) put Ammo-lock in the tank!!! About 5 days into it...
(To be fair, he didn't realize what he was doing was a disaster, and I was the one trying to teach him about salt water tanks, but I neglected to mention the part about how NECESSARY it was for the tank to properly cycle.)
So, I figured that I would just do a 50% water change, and let the Ammo-lock cycle itself out of the tank, and I would be back on track. And, I thought I was, until now:
My ammonia did spike... (farther than when the AL was put into it) up to between 4.0 and 6.0 ppm for 1 week
then my nitrites showed a spike: first .50ppm up to 3.0ppm for 5 days including today
now my nitrates are reading between 40 and 80 ppm, but:
my ammonia is still reading over 4.0 and my nitrites still read 3,0 along with the 40-80 nitrate reading.
Now everything shows a spike. I've cycled many tanks before, and have never had this problem, so I'm assumming that it has to do with the ammo-lok. I know that affects the readings, giving a false negative. But my ammo reading went up since then. And now everything is up, and staying there. I don't think this is normal.
Should I do another water change?
Thanks so much!
Fluval canister filter
live sand
12 lbs of live rock
2 hermit crabs (introduced 1 week ago)
Everything was going as it should; my amonia was starting to spike as expected, and then SOMEBODY (not me, my bf) put Ammo-lock in the tank!!! About 5 days into it...
(To be fair, he didn't realize what he was doing was a disaster, and I was the one trying to teach him about salt water tanks, but I neglected to mention the part about how NECESSARY it was for the tank to properly cycle.)
So, I figured that I would just do a 50% water change, and let the Ammo-lock cycle itself out of the tank, and I would be back on track. And, I thought I was, until now:
My ammonia did spike... (farther than when the AL was put into it) up to between 4.0 and 6.0 ppm for 1 week
then my nitrites showed a spike: first .50ppm up to 3.0ppm for 5 days including today
now my nitrates are reading between 40 and 80 ppm, but:
my ammonia is still reading over 4.0 and my nitrites still read 3,0 along with the 40-80 nitrate reading.
Now everything shows a spike. I've cycled many tanks before, and have never had this problem, so I'm assumming that it has to do with the ammo-lok. I know that affects the readings, giving a false negative. But my ammo reading went up since then. And now everything is up, and staying there. I don't think this is normal.
Should I do another water change?
Thanks so much!