How to Lower Ammonia

[ThePurple12]

Hello! I have a 30 gallon tank with a pair of ocellaris clowns in it, and it has been up since I got it for Christmas almost a month ago. The ammonia was 0.25 a couple days ago, and when I tested today, it read 0.50. I have been feeding frozen brine shrimp and fish flakes once or twice a day. I have no filter because I wanted to find out if I could keep a reef tank with only live rock filtration, but I have been using SeaChem Prime. My water is DI water. I just finished a 7 gallon water change, and the ammonia level is the same. Any suggestions on how to reduce ammonia levels? Also, I have noticed countless gray stringy things on one of my chunks of live rock. Could this have anything to do with my ammonia??? :confused:

[bertoni]

I would stop feeding for the time being, but the issue might be the test kit. Ammonia kits are fairly notorious for failing and reading ammonia in everything. I would try testing some distilled water. How much live rock is in the system, and how much food is added per day?

The gray stringy material might be some sort of bacterial mass. A picture might help, but probably not.

[ThePurple12]

There is about 25 pounds of live rock. I have been using the API Master Test Kit. I tested the DI water, and there is no ammonia in it. I feed a tiny pinch of flakes in the morning, and the clowns eat all of it. In the evening, I feed about a half centimeter chunk of brine shrimp.

[bertoni]

I would cut back a bit on the brine shrimp. That might be a bit too much in one shot, but I'm still a bit surprised about the ammonia level. That's a fairly small amount of live rock for a 30g tank, though.

[JUNBUG361]

50% water change & mention above reduce feeding

[Scrubber_steve]

Hello! I have no filter because I wanted to find out if I could keep a reef tank with only live rock filtration
Hello; I reckon the tank is not mature enough for the experiment.
I would do bi weekly water changes of whatever % necessary to keep th nh3/4 at zero, & after 3 months cut back on water changes & monitor nh3/4.

If it starts rising, end the experiment. If it doesn’t rise start monitoring no2 & no3 and po4

[Scrubber_steve]

Also ensure you have sufficient internal flow.

[mcgyvr]

Did you cycle the tank before putting the fish into it?
Was your rock purchased from a local fish store in one of their water containers and kept damp or was it dry rock?

Sounds like you didn't cycle the tank or more specifically its currently cycling now..

[ThePurple12]

I got the clownfish two weeks after I got the tank and bought the rock from Petco fully submerged in saltwater. I have one 317 gph powerhead, and I'm planning on getting a second soon. I will try a 50% wc, hopefully that will help. Thanks for all the suggestions!

[GTR]

Dosing Prime will bind the ammonia so it's not toxic. Your test kit however will still read the total ammonia. The kit is not capable of distinguishing between free ammonia and total ammonia.

[ThePurple12]

I just tested for ammonia, and it read .25ppm. I wonder if this had anything to do with adding SeaChem Prime? I didn't know it worked so well!

[mcgyvr]

I just tested for ammonia, and it read .25ppm. I wonder if this had anything to do with adding SeaChem Prime? I didn't know it worked so well!

I would likely ignore the results..
API test kits are notorious for reading ammonia when its no there.
and I would stop using Prime too..

Your tank should be adequately cycled at this time and prime should not be needed.. It may just be screwing with your results too..

[Rover88]

Seachem Prime will skew test kits that can not differentiate between ammonia and ammonium (Which is most, API included).

If your tank was only set up at Christmas, it may not have fully cycled, even with the live rock purchase. Cut down on feeding, do some regular water changes until you are through the cycle to keep the ammonia down, and stay the course. It'll sort itself out. IF it rises high though, you need to do a large water change to bring it down to protect your fish.

It is perfectly possible and frequently done to run reef aquariums without a filter.

[ThePurple12]

Ok thanks for the help

[bertoni]

I would likely ignore the results..
API test kits are notorious for reading ammonia when its no there.
and I would stop using Prime too..
I agree that the kit might well be bad. That's my first thought, but I'd be cautious about stopping the Prime. There's a small chance that something has happened and the ammonia reading is real.

I agree that the test kit will detect ammonia that's been bound by the Prime. You could get a SeaChem test kit to detect the free ammonia and ammonium. I believe that they will not measure bound ammonia.

Large water changes can cause problems if live rock is exposed to air. I'd keep the water changes at 20% at most for the time being, particularly since it's not clear that the tank has any appreciable amount of ammonia in it.

[Ramracer32]

i had the same issue. using frozen foods to feed my clowns killed my water quality fast so i tried every pellet on the market i feel like and found my clowns love PE Pellets 1mm in size. just use a very small pinch and slowly let go a few at a time under the water so it all gets eaten up and nothing gets missed. I have a 25 gallon reef and this saved everything. also look into adding chaeto making a little refugium that also made my tank great.

[ThePurple12]

I hadn't thought of a refugium! Thanks Ramracer I'll try it. Where can I get some chaeto???

[clevername]

I hadn't thought of a refugium! Thanks Ramracer I'll try it. Where can I get some chaeto???

Local users will give it to you for free. Local stores should have some for you also (maybe it will cost) but remember you don't need much since it grows.

I personally would get another power head around 300GPH and have two of them going (plan out the flow path) and put them on timers to turn off at night.

Id also get the Seachem kit which is WAY more accurate and detects Free and total ammonia.

Lets also not forget if you have an ammonia problem, later on you could be dealing with Nitrite and Nitrate issue. So getting this sorted out now is key