TracyS TracyS
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  • Posted on: 21/3/2007 11:37
URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE #1
I have an Orca 450, just over 2 months since setup, Have just put in new fish one this weekend, one 2 weeks before, everything was going fine but since last new fish ammonia has shot up and I cant get it down.......

Have done 2 partial water changes since Monday about 10% and this has had no affect.

Fish seem absolutely fine as do the Hermits and Shrimps, still shedding skin and quite active, dosen't seem to have affected them so far.

Cant see anything thats died, I am going to stop feeding as much and see if this reduces it but I am really concerned, is there anything else I can do to get this ammonia level down,

One thing I have noticed is that theres not as much Other life, the little shrimpy things and crawly things copepods is it????????

Apart from that and the fact the ammonia test is showing high everythings as it was
craigieboi craigieboi
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  • Posted on: 21/3/2007 11:40
Re: URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE #2
how high is ur amonia? also what 2 fish do u have n how much live rock is there?
never boast about ur malu.............. i did n it got chewed up a few days later
Coralline Coralline
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  • Posted on: 21/3/2007 11:47
Re: URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE #3
10% water changes wont fix it, you are only removing 10% of the ammonia from the tank... to make a dent you need to do a bigger water change, eg, a 50% change would reduce ammonia from 1 to 0.5

yep dont feed til youve sorted this, will just be adding more waste to the tank.

how much live rock you got in there, for sufficient filtration you need 1-2lb per gallon, what do you have in the filter space in the orca, if its gone biological it could be adding unwanted ammonia etc to the water. whats ammonia level at??
Gill

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TracyS TracyS
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  • Posted on: 21/3/2007 11:56
Re: URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE #4
Quote:

Coralline wrote:
10% water changes wont fix it, you are only removing 10% of the ammonia from the tank... to make a dent you need to do a bigger water change, eg, a 50% change would reduce ammonia from 1 to 0.5

yep dont feed til youve sorted this, will just be adding more waste to the tank.

how much live rock you got in there, for sufficient filtration you need 1-2lb per gallon, what do you have in the filter space in the orca, if its gone biological it could be adding unwanted ammonia etc to the water. whats ammonia level at??


There is approx 8 - 9 kilos of live rock, not sure what you mean by whats in the filter space, its as it came Black Mesh Foam in one compartment, then Black Bio Balls in another and Ceramic Noodles with Fine Fibre Wool in between them, Ammonia levels at about 3 at the moment and last water change was late last night, Do you advise to not feed at all until this is sorted, surely they'll starve, also is it ok to do such a big water change 50% surely thats taken half of the other good stuff out too is that a good thing......
Coralline Coralline
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  • Posted on: 21/3/2007 12:14
Re: URGENT ADVICE NEEDED PLEASE #5
Quote:

TracyS wrote:
There is approx 8 - 9 kilos of live rock, not sure what you mean by whats in the filter space, its as it came Black Mesh Foam in one compartment, then Black Bio Balls in another and Ceramic Noodles with Fine Fibre Wool in between them, Ammonia levels at about 3 at the moment and last water change was late last night, Do you advise to not feed at all until this is sorted, surely they'll starve, also is it ok to do such a big water change 50% surely thats taken half of the other good stuff out too is that a good thing......


yes stop feeding! no they wont starve, will take fish weeks to starve!! ammonia at 3 is high!!!! it shouldnt take more than a couple of days to sort this out.

yes i meant what media is in the filter space. the problem with media like in a marine tank, that is it just produces nitrates as end result, and does the job instead of the live rock. its different to fresh water. if you have live rock you shouldnt have any other media that is doing biological filtering, waste of money for a start the rock should be doing all the work- lol! if you have to have anything in there use fine floss but keep it clean, ie replace it every few days before any bacteria can colonize. you can also you chemical filtration like carbon or polyfilter or rowaphos etc...

and yes a 50% water change wil be fine, just no more than that, its an emergency, and you will be removing more bad stuff than good.
Gill

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