lundi 16 janvier 2017

25 Gallon quarantine help ! - Ammonia reading

Good afternoon, TRT!

It has been about two years since I have posted on here. I have had a very successful 25 gallon reef for the last two years. (A big part of my success was due to the info I received on TRT). I recently made a big upgrade ( 120G ).

All my livestock & corals are in the 120G and doing great. I scraped off about 50-60% of the coraline algae off my older 25G reef tank and filled it up to use as a Quarantine for the 3 tangs I purchased. I currently have about 7-10LBS of LR ( That I took from my 120G display tanks sump ) plus running a marineland peguin 350 hang on filter with two carbon pads and filter floss filling up the rest. The LR I put in the quarantine tank is newly cycled LR, It was cycled for about 4-5 weeks then put into my 120G sump then about 7 days later I transferred it over to the quarantine. The reason for this is because I will be treating my 3 tangs with hyposalinity and to the greatest of my knowledge if I was to use LR with critters on it, The Hypo would kill them and potentially cause an ammonia spike. The hypo will not kill the nitrogen cycle bacteria.

From day 1 with this quarantine tank I was reading .25 - .5 PPM ammonia. I thought it would quickly cycle within 24 hours ( Since I added the LR, carbon pads + filter floss) but that is not the case. I had the tank running for 48 hours before I added my 3 tangs. When I added the 3 tangs my ammonia was .25ppm. I had my 3 tangs in separate buckets using my 120 gallon tank water. I noticed they were getting very stressed and not eating so I decided to put them in the .25ppm ammonia filled quarantine tank.

I have a Powder Blue Tang with visible Ich, Purple Tang with no visible signs of ich, and a yellow tang with no visible signs of ich. All 3 of them seem relatively healthy in the quarantine tank, swimming and eating like normal. They are all about 2-3 inches in size. I will be treating them with hyposalinity. To the best of my knowledge I can use carbon + LR in hyposalinity. The LR I have in the quarantine was cycled for about 5-6 weeks, then put into my 120 display tanks sump for 7 days then moved to the qurantine tank.

I feel terrible since I am the one responsible for the poor water qualify for these tangs. I have learned my lesson and I will make sure my quarantine tank is 100% cycled before adding any livestock to it.

I am now asking any TRT members for advice on how to improve ( speed up ) my cycle or water quality for these tangs. I am keeping my ammonia between 0 ppm and .25ppm using an API liquid bottle test kit. I have been doing 10 gallon water changes every 24 hours. MY ammonia has not been pass .50ppm yet. I know my tangs are not contributing that much waste to the tank since my ammonia raises less then .25ppm in 24 hours. I have API Ammo-Lock on standby. I have not used it since I read it can give a false reading and can make your cycle take longer to complete. I will use this as an emergency option if I witness one of my tangs doing very poorly. As of right now they seem full of energy and relatively healthy ( Minus the ich ).

Can .25ppm ammonia be catastrophic to my tangs? I know 0 ammonia is the goal and any ammonia is bad and can affect a fishes heath. The reason I ask this is because I came across many other forums where people are in a bigger pickle then I am with ammonia readings over 1ppm every 24 hours.

This will be day 3. They have been in the quarantine tank for over 48 hours.

I am thinking of adding my hang on back protein skimmer. Also in 48 hours if I am still not at 0ppm ammonia I will definitely be adding another solid 10 lbs of LR from the 120 gallon sump. I need to control the ammonia before I can tackle the ich.


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