High Ammonia Level

[Anguilla82]

hi all
i've got a 24g D&D nano stocked with various small corals (LPS in particular), 2 B&W clowns, 1 firefish and a six line wrasse.
my problem is that although all of my levels (nitrate, nitrite, ph, phosphates and so on....) are fine, my ammonia level is surprisingly high something like 0.8 i think last time i tested. i do a weekly water change of 3g and only feed around twice per week a small amount of either frozen or flake.

the cat's litter tray is nearby that often smells of ammonia if not promptly cleaned out. this couldn't be the cause could it?

 

[ox5477]

That would be interesting if gases from our cats litter pan was being collected in your tanks water column. Try moving the pan to another room and see what happens.

Do you know that everything in your tank is still doing good and healthy? Cause if you have high ammonia, it is coming from somewhere, so you could have a large snails or part of a coral dying on you that is leaching the toxic ammonia into the water column... check to make sure everybody is still healthy and would try doing a good size wc to remove as much of the ammonia as you can.... if left to linger in your water, I believe it will begin to slowly posion your fish and corals

 

[Sea Turtle]

That would be interesting if gases from our cats litter pan was being collected in your tanks water column. Try moving the pan to another room and see what happens.

Do you know that everything in your tank is still doing good and healthy? Cause if you have high ammonia, it is coming from somewhere, so you could have a large snails or part of a coral dying on you that is leaching the toxic ammonia into the water column... check to make sure everybody is still healthy and would try doing a good size wc to remove as much of the ammonia as you can.... if left to linger in your water, I believe it will begin to slowly posion your fish and corals

Yeh. I agree with ox. I can't imagine that it could be the litter pan unless some of the terds are making it into the tank. There must be a dead fish, coral or snail inthere that is poluting the water slowly. I would really look that tank over well for dead things. It could be a sanil that looks like it is alive but really dead.

 

[Anguilla82]

i have had a few things pass on in there but not for a long time (4-5 months). would a dead snail really push my ammonia up and keep it there?
i'm assuming that i'm not overstocked?
as that was the next thing to try but didn't fancy trying to catch the wrasse!

i'm not up on my nitrogen cycle theory, but surely if i've got high ammonia i should have high something else as well e.g. nitrites/nitrates?

i've had this high ammonia problem for quite a while you see (weeks rather than days!) probably around 6-8 weeks.
also have been fighting a red slime algae for a long time too, but as previously said all other parameters are good.

 

[ox5477]

well with 24G, it would not take that big of a snail to die to cause a jump to your small level your at. if you were at 2 or 3 or higher, then it would be a little fishy... wow... bad pun

How much lr do you have in the tank?

Do you use external filtration?

If yes, whats the make and model of the filter?

If you've had this for going on a few weeks, then I think maybe your filtration is having trouble keeping up with the bioload, even though it isn't that big. For a 24G you should prob have atleast35 to 40lb of lr to cope with the bioload, maybe more if you notice your fish are being excessively messy at meal time. Make sure there is good circulation in and aroudn your rocks too. If you have them all piled in the back then your losing half your filtration surface area. Having an island or multiple island shape allows for water to flow completely around the rockwork and allow for almost all possible surface area to be open for bacteria to filter the water

 

[Anguilla82]

there is around 10+kg of LR in the main display area as a mound in the centre with a koralia nano power head in the middle. there is alot of big gaps between the rocks to get good throughflow.
There is around 1.5kg of LR in the back chambers and i'm also running an Eheim external with another 2-3kg of LR in.
these amounts are all estimates but i can assure you there is a significant amount of LR in total!

 

[SkiFletch]

If it were the cat's litter tray, you'd be sick yourself at that concentration of airborne ammonia, so would the cat... At that high level of ammonia you should be seeing significant problems with your corals. They'd all be retracted and dying for sure and your fish would be sluggish and gasping for air. Something tells me its a bad test kit or you just got a bad reading. Have you verified it?

 

[Anguilla82]

the test kit is quite an old one, and i've been getting similar reading for quite a long time. all corals and fish are healthy, and the LPS are fully extended (Torch, Hammer, Frogspawn). The favia is growing, so i don't think the ammonia levels are harming, though i appreciate that at the levels i'm suggesting they should be. which does get me thinking that the test kit is past its best.
is there a decent test kit directed towards the marine aquarist yet, or do most people just use those for standard freshwater.

 

[SkiFletch]

I just use an API test kit for ammonia, no need for a fancy one here as any ammonia is bad ammonia. Beware, the color chart is different for saltwater than it is freshwater

 

[Anguilla82]

cheers, will go and get one tonight and do a reading.

 

[Anguilla82]

So i went and bought a new salifert test kit for ammonia last night. i did the test and it came out a cloudy white colour. i assume that this is a good reading.
test kit shows blank for anything under 0.25 then 0.25 is a sort of light yellow colour, then it gradually gets a darker yellow the more ammonia is present.

as mine was a cloudy white i assume it was a good reading?

 

[SkiFletch]

 

[Anguilla82]

good good, cheers skifletch for your help.